‘Sanctuary’ city mayor confronted after gang member allegedly assaults federal officers

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio confronted Denver Mayor Mike Johnston for upholding “sanctuary” city policies that allowed an illegal immigrant and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member to walk free and allegedly assault federal officers.

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on sanctuary cities Wednesday, Jordan slammed Johnston for ignoring an ICE detainer request and only giving federal agents one-hour notice before the Denver Sheriff’s Department released Abraham Gonzalez, a 23-year-old Venezuelan illegal immigrant charged with assault, menace and theft of a vehicle.  

After being released by the Denver Sheriff’s Department Feb. 28, Gonzalez assaulted ICE agents attempting to apprehend him, according to a statement by ICE.

ICE has said that sanctuary city policies preventing law enforcement from honoring detainers and cooperating with federal authorities pose a significant risk to both agents and to the public.

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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and a migrant. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post.)

Despite this, Johnston has doubled down on the city’s sanctuary policies and has vowed to direct law enforcement to resist Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

During the hearing, Jordan showed a picture of the notice slip given by the Denver Sheriff’s Department to ICE in which the location of release listed was simply the “streets.”

Addressing Johnston, Jordan said, “Three hundred and forty-five days you had him in custody, and ICE said, ‘Hey can you give us 48 hours heads up?’ You gave them one-hour notice.”

Johnston asserted that the Denver sanctuary policy does not shield people from law enforcement but rather “provides services.” He said there were six ICE agents present when Gonzalez was released but admitted that the illegal immigrant was allowed to walk freely out into a parking lot.

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These images from a CBP intelligence bulletin, show tattoos and identifiers for Tren de Aragua. (ICE)

“Guess what happened in that parking lot … one of the ICE officers got assaulted, didn’t he? They had to tase the guy, didn’t they?” Jordan asked.

“An officer got assaulted because your policy, which says, ‘We’re going to release him to — in your words, not mine — to the streets.’ They have to arrest him in the parking lot. They bring six officers when they could have just had one or two just come in your facility, into your jail, and take the guy there. But you won’t do it that way.”  

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Addressing Johnston’s testimony earlier in the hearing, Jordan said, “You used the word safe, safer or safety 13 times. Talking about ‘my job is the safety of the people in Denver, we’re prioritizing making sure everyone is safer.’ That’s a lie.

“It was not safer for the ICE agents who are part of your community. No way was it safer,” Jordan added. “The safest thing to do is to say, ‘ICE we got him in custody. Come here. We’ll release him.’ [Instead, it’s], ‘We held him 345 days. We can’t hold him a second longer. We can’t wait for you to come inside the building. We got to let him go so you have to arrest him in the parking lot.’ That is how stupid sanctuary policies are and what they mean to the community that you put at risk and to the ICE officer who was assaulted.”

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U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Johnston said he was open to making “adjustments” to how releases are conducted but insisted this was the first instance of an ICE agent being assaulted during an arrest in his city.

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“It’s a simple question,” Jordan shot back. “You can release him in the parking lot, give ICE one hour notice and they got to send six officers to arrest this guy, or you can say, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to hold him. You come in and bring two officers in and turn him in.’ Why not do it that way? You know why you don’t do that way? Because you’re a sanctuary city. This is the whole point.”