Spending on migrants in Denver has ballooned to an estimated $356 million, an updated analysis by the Common Sense Institute says.
The estimate, which amounts to $7,900 per foreign national in the city, includes spending from the city, schools, and health care systems.
Denver has seen an influx of almost 43,000 migrants since 2022. The city has received significant federal funding for migrant response.
According to CSI’s previous update from May, the city received federal funding for migrant response from the Head Start Program ($13 million), Federal Emergency Management Agency ($8.6 million), U.S. Department of Local Affairs ($1.5 million), and the National Board for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program ($909,000). Overall spending was estimated to be up to $340 million in May.
The analysis comes as Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and incoming Trump administration officials continue a public feud over the role of government and the handling of the ongoing migrant crisis.
Trump has taken aim at so-called sanctuary cities like Denver as part of his broader plan to crack down on illegal immigration and crime, and deport an untold number of criminal alienas in the U.S. illegally. In Colorado, state law bars state and local agencies from arresting individuals based on detainer requests from ICE.
Johnston said in an interview with Denverite last week that the Denver Police Department would be “stationed at the county line to keep [federal immigration agencies] out” and “you would have 50,000 Denverites there” protesting.
He walked back those comments in an interview last Friday with 9News.
“Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn’t have used that image,” the mayor told 9News. “That’s the image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country. I think none of us want that.”
Johnston added that he would join protests if he felt the Trump administration was violating rights and said he’s not afraid to go to jail.
Tom Homan, the former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who Trump tapped to be the new border czar, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity this week: “Me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing. He’s willing to go to jail; I’m willing to put him in jail.”
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican set to lead a subcommittee that will work with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, also told Fox News on Sunday she plans to look into federal funding for sanctuary cities and states.
“I’d like to talk to the governors of sanctuary states and the mayors of sanctuary cities and have them come before our committee and explain why they deserve federal dollars if they’re going to harbor illegal criminal aliens in their states and their cities,” she said.
Data shows migrant arrivals to Denver have slowed to less than a dozen a day this month, CSI noted, down from a peak of over 5,000 one day in January.
“As the national conversation continues around migrants, Denver’s daily arrivals of asylum seekers from the southern border has slowed significantly, but taxpayer costs have continued,” the think tank said.
