'Sanctuary city' Denver takes funding from police and fire, announces its $89.9M budget for illegal immigrants flooding their streets

DENVER, CO - On Wednesday, April 10th, the City of Denver announced its plan to spend $89.9 million on services for incoming illegal immigrants, as well as the budget cuts that are needed in order to "reallocate" the money. The cuts are set to be taken from police and fire.

Often referred to as a "sanctuary city," Denver plans to pull the funding from roughly $45 million in public programs and services, and the police department will be hit with an $8.4 million reduction in spending. According to the Daily Caller News Foundation, that reduction accounts for about 1.9 percent of the police department's total operating budget. 

The city claims that this new approach allows for surges in arrivals and focuses on self-sufficiency and moving people to independence. The city calls the illegal immigrants the "newcomers" and out of the nearly $90 million budget, $25 million has already been spend in the first quarter of 2024. 

According to Fox 31, earlier in the year, Mayor Mike Johnston asked every city department to find "creative ways" to reduce costs by 10 to 15 percent. At the time of his request, Denver projected spending $180 million on the "newcomers" with 5,000 people sheltered per day. However, as the influx of illegal immigrants decreased so did the percentage cuts for each department. 

Denver became the top destination per capita for incoming illegal immigrants in 2023, with more than 40,000 arriving throughout the year. According to NBC News, this put the total illegal immigrant population at roughly 710,000. In 2023, Denver spent over $42 million in housing and medical services for illegal immigrants and is on track to spend double that in 2024. 

In order to reach the $89.9 million budget, the Denver fire department will suffer a $2.5 million reduction, or about 0.8 percent of its total operating costs. Half of those reductions will come from vacant positions. On X, Mayor Johnston wrote, "Today, we shared a new budget and a more sustainable newcomer program. Proud of our city for welcoming those most in need. Proud of our city teams who found ways to minimize budget without major impacts."

9 News reported that the city does not plan to stop recruiting classes for new police officers or firefighters, but at least one class will have to be conducted at the Denver International Airport, which is supposedly paying for the cost of hosting it. Additionally, 911 operators will be paid differently in order to save the city money. 

Mayor Johnston's office will face the most severe cuts, which will lose about $335,155 in its funding for the plan. That equates to roughly 9.6 percent of its total operating budget. Other cuts being made include a budget reduction of 2.2 percent for the Sheriff's Department, 1.9 percent to the Department of Public Health and Environment, 2.4 percent to the Executive Director of Safety, and 3.8 percent to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. 

Johnston celebrated the announcement of the new plan, claiming it was the "best available" option to provide services to illegal immigrants while also mitigating city budget cuts.

He said in a statement, "After more than a year of facing this crisis together, Denver finally has a sustainable plan for treating our newcomers with dignity while avoiding the worst cuts to city services. So many times we were told that we couldn't be compassionate while still being fiscally responsible. Today is proof that our hardest challenges are still solvable and that together we are the ones who will solve them."

The city claims that its goal is not to use the entire $89.9 million to plan for potential surges in illegal immigrant arrivals and that any unused funds will roll over to 2025.