Sanctuary city Denver spending a whopping $356 million on migrants: study

As Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston says he would be willing to go to jail over his opposition to the Trump mass-deportation plan, a new study claims the mayor’s Blue city has spent a whopping $356 million of taxpayers’ hard-earned money on migrants.

The eye-popping sum, which amounts to $7,900 per foreign national in the city, was revealed by an updated analysis last week by the Common Sense Institut (CSI), a non-partisan research organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the U.S. economy. 

The group says it used city data to land on the stunning sum, which equates to 8% of the city’s 2025 budget of $4.4 billion. The figures combine the city’s budget as well as regional education and healthcare organizations.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, right, and a migrant in the city, left. A new study claims Denver has spent a whopping $356 million of taxpayers’ hard-earned money on migrants since the crisis began in 2022 with costs including education, healthcare and housing. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

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Denver has seen an unprecedented influx of migrants arrive in the city under the Biden-Harris administration and Johnston has already slashed city services to house and feed those migrants. Cuts included reducing services at recreation centers and stopping the planting of spring flower beds, while the city tapped into a contingency fund to pay for the spiraling costs. 

The CSI claims that the bulk of the $356 million spent on migrants was through education, with the city also splashing out on healthcare, hotels, transportation and childcare. Denver is a sanctuary city, meaning it does not enforce immigration law, nor does the city cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The group says that about 45,000 migrants have arrived in the Denver metro area since December 2022, with 16,197 migrant students enrolling in Denver metro schools.

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“The total cost to Denver metro schools related to new migrant students is $228 million annually, which would equate to 1-2% of the total state K-12 education budget for the 2024-25 academic year,” the group writes.

“Previous CSI reporting estimated the per-student cost of instruction and support in the Denver metro to be $14,100 per year. Assuming this cost across all recent migrant students totals $228 million.

Meanwhile, Denver doctors earlier this year said that the migrant crisis had pushed the state’s hospital system to its breaking point and was causing a humanitarian crisis. 

Migrants at a makeshift shelter in Denver, Colorado on Jan. 13, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

The CSI study estimates that emergency departments in the Denver metro area have delivered an estimated $49 million in uncompensated care to migrants. 

“With 16,760 [migrant] visits to Denver metro emergency departments from December 2022 to the present, providers would have delivered $49,124,029 of uncompensated care to migrants.

The study reports that at the height of the migrant influx in January 2024, officials estimated Denver was going to spend $180 million through 2024. Actual expenditures tracked by the city now show it will spend about $79 million.

“Of the total, 34.5% has been spent on facilities including hotels, 29.4% on personnel, 14% on services, and 11% on food,” the report finds. 

Johnston said during a recent interview that he was prepared to protest against anything he believes is “illegal or immoral or un-American” in the city – including the use of military force – and was then asked if he was prepared to go to jail for standing in the way of policies enacted by the administration.

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar” designate, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity this week that he would jail Johnston if he broke the law in shielding illegal migrants.  (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

“Yeah, I’m not afraid of that, and I’m also not seeking that,” Johnston said. “I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people [on] how to solve hard problems.”

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Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar” designate, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity this week that he would jail Johnston if he broke the law in shielding illegal migrants. 

 “All he has to do is look at Arizona v. U.S., and he would see he’s breaking the law. But, look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing. He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail.”

Fox News’ Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.