Jim Jordan, Republican Rep. of Ohio, confronted Denver mayor Mike Johnston over “sanctuary” city policies, which allowed an illegal alien and suspected Tren de Aragua member to roam free.
During a House Oversight Committee Hearing on Sanctuary Cities on Wednesday, Jordan slammed Johnston for ignoring an ICE detainer and giving federal agents only one hour notice before releasing Abraham Gonzalez, a Venezuelan illegal alien aged 23 who was charged with assault and menace and the theft of a car.
Gonzalez, who was released on Friday by the Denver Sheriff’s Department, assaulted ICE Agents when they tried to arrest him.
ICE said sanctuary policies that prevent law enforcement agencies from cooperating and honoring federal detainers pose a serious risk for both the agents and public.
Johnston has escalated the sanctuary policies of his city and has pledged to instruct law enforcement officers to oppose Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
During the hearing, Jordan presented a photo of ICE’s notice slip that was given to ICE by the Denver Sheriff’s Department. The location listed for the release of the detainees on the form is simply “streets.”
Jordan addressed Johnston by saying, “You had him for 335 days in your custody, and ICE asked, ‘Hey, can you give 48 hours notice?’ They were given one hour notice.”
Johnston said that Denver’s sanctuary policy “provides service” and does not protect people from the law. Johnston said that six ICE agents were present at the time Gonzalez was freed, but that the illegal alien was allowed to freely walk out of a parking area.
Guess what happened in that parking lot. Didn’t one of the ICE agents get assaulted? “They had to tase him, didn’t they?” Jordan inquired.
The officer was assaulted by your police policy that said, “We are going to release him”- not my words- “to the streets”. They had to arrest him in the parking lot. The six officers are there when one or two could have been sent to your facility and taken the man in. “But you wouldn’t do that.”
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.”
Johnston was willing to make “adjustments” to the way releases are handled, but he insisted that this was the very first time an ICE officer was assaulted in an arrest.
“It’s a straightforward question,” Jordan retorted. “You could release him in the parking lot, give ICE an hour’s notice, and they’ll send six officers to make the arrest. Or, you could say, ‘Here’s what we’ll do: we’ll hold him, and you send two officers to turn him in.’ So why not do it that way? You know why you won’t? Because you’re a sanctuary city. That’s the whole issue here.”
