In a striking departure from his typically cautious approach, Mayor Mike Johnston has taken a defiant stand—one that risks intensifying focus on Greater Denver following President Trump’s campaign pledge of a “bloody story” in the region.
Denver is bracing for a confrontation.
On Thursday, Mayor Mike Johnston plans to sign an executive order designed to insulate the city from the kind of sweeping federal immigration crackdown that rattled Minneapolis this winter. The directive would prohibit federal immigration agents from carrying out operations on city-owned property and require Denver police to safeguard peaceful demonstrators gathered at the scenes of those operations.
For weeks, Johnston said, residents have been asking the same anxious question: What happens if ICE arrives here? His order, he said, is meant to answer that directly and publicly — to leave no doubt about where the city stands.
The directive goes further than symbolism. It instructs Denver officers to step in if they witness life-threatening misconduct by immigration agents — language that appears to reference the fatal shootings of two Americans during federal operations in Minneapolis. It also calls for criminal investigations into complaints against immigration authorities, even though the federal government has resisted similar inquiries elsewhere.
Whether the measures will significantly curb federal enforcement remains uncertain. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to the announcement. Existing sanctuary policies already limit cooperation between local police and immigration officials, and neither Denver nor Colorado has the legal authority to block federal agents from operating within their borders.
Still, Johnston’s action signals a sharper tone from a mayor who, until recently, struck a careful balance. During a high-profile congressional hearing on “sanctuary city” policies, he described Denver as welcoming while noting that the city had worked with federal immigration officials thousands of times.
Now, the posture is more confrontational — and politically charged.
During his 2024 campaign, President Trump repeatedly pointed to nearby Aurora, falsely claiming the city had been overtaken by Venezuelan gangs and vowing that removing undocumented immigrants from the region would be a “bloody story.” The rhetoric cast a long shadow over Greater Denver.
Johnston acknowledged that his order could once again draw the president’s attention. But, he said, governing out of fear of a volatile response from Washington is not an option.
Compared with Los Angeles, Chicago and the Twin Cities, the Denver area has not experienced the kind of sweeping raids and violent unrest that followed enforcement surges elsewhere. Yet after Minneapolis, Johnston said, anxiety has surged — particularly among Latino and East African immigrant communities who worry they could be next.
“We want to be the ones policing our own city,” he said.
Denver and neighboring Aurora absorbed tens of thousands of migrants from Venezuela and other countries during the Biden administration, straining housing, shelters and public services. The influx became a centerpiece of Trump’s campaign promises of aggressive enforcement.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, immigration arrests in the Denver region have climbed by more than 200 percent, according to University of Colorado researchers, even as operations have unfolded with less spectacle than in other cities. In March, federal agents detained one of Colorado’s most prominent undocumented immigrant activists. A weeklong sweep in July resulted in 243 arrests.
At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to establish a new immigration detention center in a rural community about 30 miles north of Denver — a proposal that Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress have forcefully opposed.
Johnston’s executive order is only part of the city’s response. The Denver City Council is expected to advance an ordinance requiring federal agents operating locally to display names and badge numbers and prohibiting the wearing of masks, with exceptions for undercover or SWAT-style operations. A similar law in California was recently struck down by a federal judge because it excluded state officers; Denver’s version would apply to all law enforcement.
Across the country, Democratic leaders have renewed efforts to restrict immigration-enforcement tactics after the deadly turmoil in Minneapolis, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed. The White House has countered that such moves undermine federal law and shield criminal immigrants.
In Denver, the lines are being drawn anyway — city authority against federal power, local reassurance against national resolve — with the next chapter yet to unfold.
