Denver’s Democrat mayor responded to growing unrest among residents over budget cuts to accommodate the tens of thousands of illegal aliens that have swarmed into the Mile High City.
Mayor Mike Johnston explained why taxpayers would have to swallow reductions in essential services because the leftists who run Denver have placed such values as being “welcoming” and “compassionate” above the welfare of its non-foreign citizens.
Johnston’s remarks came during an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition” when he was asked about the frustration of residents over the budget shortfalls as a result of Denver’s being a sanctuary city which like other Democrat-run areas, has been overrun with new arrivals as a result President Joe Biden’s open borders policies.
“The dilemma is when you have values on both sides and you have to manage those values,” he explained. “We have a value of being a welcoming, compassionate city.”
“And we do not want to be a city where women and children are out on the streets in 10-degree weather in tents. That’s not part of our value system. And we also want to be a city that provides high-quality services to all of our residents,” Johnston added. “So without federal action, we’re left to just manage that on our own. But it’s not as simple as either you just stop supporting them altogether or you cut all the city budgets. What we’re going to do is both.”
Some of the cuts will be felt at the city’s election office which come during a year in which the pivotal election almost certainly pitting the incumbent Biden and his porous borders against Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump who has pledged to commence the largest deportation effort in decades if elected, a proposal that many Denverites would likely be down with.
(Video: YouTube/Fox 31 Denver)
“We’ve asked every agency in the city to take a look at what they could do to make what is about a 15% cut to their budget across the city. And those agencies are all presenting options to us this week. We started the first set of actions this week, which includes reducing the hours in our rec centers, closing rec centers for some days, and will involve closing some of our DMV sites on certain days and weeks,” the mayor said.
“And so, we are having to make some of these hard decisions, and we’ll also have to reduce some of the level and length of services we can provide to migrants. We’ve had more than 40,000 migrants arrive in our city over the last year, more than any other city in America per capita, and we have very successfully integrated them. To do that well just requires resources, and it will be impossible for us to do that at this scale going forward without any federal help,” he stated.
(Video: YouTube/CBS Denver)
In the interview, Johnston blamed Republicans for not passing the co-called “border bill” which was in reality, just a ruse to sweeten the latest $60 billion destined for Ukraine.
“This bipartisan bill was negotiated, you know, over many weeks. Did it offer you some additional support so that you wouldn’t have to cut your budget?” Johnston was asked by host Michel Martin.
“Yeah, it would have actually given us the federal support we needed to not cut budgets. We wouldn’t be facing budget cuts if that had passed. We would have been able to provide the services that we’re providing now with federal support, instead of us having to find city support to do it. So it both would have filled our budget need and would have solved the work authorization need for folks that arrive. These are folks that have walked 3,000 miles to get here. They’re police officers and engineers and teachers. All they really need is a place to rest their head and an opportunity for a job, and they are hungry to support themselves,” he said.
Nearly 40,000 illegal aliens have arrived in Denver over the last year with more on the way.
If Denver is having trouble with 40,000 illegals, how will they handle the next 400,000?
The illegal influx is growing exponentially and just exceeded babies born in America last month! https://t.co/HGr0zF3rns
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2024
Things are so dire in Denver that the city’s hospital system is on the verge of collapse due to the influx of illegals but residents can at least take solace in the city being a “welcoming” and “compassionate” place.
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