(The Center Square) – A town council in Colorado passed a resolution this week supporting President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
The Castle Rock Town Council supported the “Resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Castle Rock Expressing its Strong Support for President-Elect Donald Trump’s Immigration Policies and its Willingness to Lawfully Cooperate with Federal Immigration Officials in Implementing These Policies.”
The resolution says that America has an “ever-increasing number of unauthorized migrants” in the country. It cites studies showing “unauthorized migrants” as a “fiscal drain on public funds.”
The resolution says, “Concerns have been raised that illegal immigration threatens the safety and well-being of American citizens, if simply for the fact that unauthorized migrants who commit crimes should not be in the United States in the first place.”
The resolution says that “locally,” the city of Denver, Denver County, Denver Public Schools and other government agencies have spent a combined “$356 million serving migrants.”
Six council members voted in favor of the resolution. Councilmember Ryan Hollingshead voted present on this issue.
In discussing why the council decided to pass this legislation, it cited the recent crime spike in Aurora.
As The Center Square reported this week, 19 suspected members of Tren de Aragua were arrested in Aurora for alleged home invasion and kidnapping.
Castle Rock is around 35 minutes from Aurora.
Councilmember Tim Dietz said public safety is “key” for him and that this resolution is about being “proactive.”
“I don’t want to be Denver,” he said.
Dietz also said that Castle Rock was one of the last “conservative enclaves” in its area. The town of an estimated 81,415 people is almost 40 minutes from Dever.
Councilmember Max Brooks said that people need to become legal citizens of this country.
“We can protect you under the Constitution that way, but if you are here illegally, it’s time for you to restart to get you back to square one, get you to start over,” he said.
Hollingshead said he did not think the town council needed to take action on this resolution. He said that it was “silly” to pass resolutions every time Denver did something.
“We take care of our business in Castle Rock. We do have a great place here. I don’t think we need to match wits with Denver every time they do something,” he said.
Hollingshead added that Denver doesn’t care about Castle Rock “that much.”
Many members of the community pushed back against the resolution.
Resident John Witson said that Trump is trying to deport Castle Rock’s neighbors.
“They’re our co-workers, our friends, the people who work in the restaurants around us serving us our food. They build our homes. They take care of our lawns. They work on our roofs. They paint our houses. These are people who are here trying to do the best for their families,” he said.
Resident Sheri Rich said she found this resolution frightening. The thought of the Castle Rock Police Department being turned into immigration enforcement officials harassing people in the town “was horrifying” to her.
