Denver defunds $8.4M from police to aid migrants

Denver Mayor Mike Johnson announcing new funding to help the migrant crisis, but it comes with cuts to many city services, including taking millions away from police. Alicia Acuna is live from Denver. Good morning. Hi, Good morning, Dana. $8.4 million will be taken from Denver, the Denver police budget. This is to help fund a nearly $90,000,000 aid package to address the city’s migrant crisis. And as you mentioned, Denver, Mike Johnson is trying to justify this plan, explaining it’s a combination of capital cuts like putting off buying new furniture for police, but it will restrict the department’s ability to hire for open positions. Johnston insists it will not impact public safety. So no change in officers that are deployed to the street, no changes in our plan on recruiting, and no change in public facing services. Denver’s police chief was also at this announcement. He said the department recognizes the need to be partners in this, attempting to assure folks who live here. And so we were not. We were able to, to make sure that we provide all of our core services without having any impact on the budget at all. Yeah, and certainly happy that we’ve that we found a pathway to, to help these migrants that are coming into our our, our city now, Mayor Johnston says he had no choice given the influx of migrants to Denver, which at one point was receiving the largest number per capita of any other city in the country. He also blames Washington. There was a bipartisan bill to do that that failed in the House. You know that story. I think what we found at that point is whether we would like the federal government to do it or not. That was no longer a choice for us. It was clear that was not going to happen in this Congress in the next seven months. So you feel like we had to take this into our own hands to come up with a solution. And Dana, police, the Police Department is not alone. Every single department in the city of Denver saw its budget cut, including the mayor’s office, Dana and the rec centers. I heard about that one from family back home. All right, Thank you, Alicia. Let’s get reaction from back home. Colorado radio host Ross Comenzi. Ross, welcome back here. Cut #2, guys. This is the county commissioner, Abe Laden, on the cost of Douglas County, which is, yes, the midway point between Denver and Colorado Springs rolling. We heard many months ago that 40,000 Venezuelan migrants were being bussed to Denver from Texas at a cost of about $120 million to the city and county of Denver in Douglas County. We are not going to be cutting services to our residents. So there you have it. And the mayor is saying don’t worry about it. So what’s the truth? Well, you know the truth is we and I say we they invited this on us, on themselves and here we are in this situation. I think last time we talked Bill, you know I mentioned it’s easy to say you’re a sanctuary city, it’s hard to actually be one. But the pain got to be so much the financial pain Dana mentioned to the the rec centers not planting flowers. Now we have the stuff with all of these all of these budget cuts and even in a city as quote UN quote welcoming as Denver maybe we’ve been a little a little too welcoming. The people are getting a little tired of it. I I also just reacting to something in in Alicia Acuna’s report there. I I as a taxpayer I find it pretty frustrating that the mayor of Denver was willing to spend 150 a $180 million as long as he thought he was going to get a chunk of it back from from the federal government you know from other people’s money. I This doesn’t seem to me how this place should operate. OK, so the mayor saying you’re wrong. Ross. Here’s a statement from the spokesperson City of Denver’s adjustment. The Denver Police Department’s budget was carefully crafted with safety leaders and Mayor Johnson was sure there would be no impact to the department’s public services and no officers will be taken off the streets. Total migrants served by the city since December of 2022. It’s a year and a half ago. Almost 41,000, Ross. Yeah, so I’m not, I’m not claiming that there are going to be fewer cops on the street than now because of these budget cuts. He’s being a little bit clever with his words. It’s entirely possible that Denver, well, it’s probable Denver should have more cops on the street than now. So if that’s the plan and now they’re not going to do that, then it’s a little misleading to say, well, we’re not cutting back officers on the street. If you’re going to have the same number but you plan to have more than, that’s not great. But if I’m not only focusing on the police, it’s everything ever. Almost every department in Denver is being cut because we as a city and as a state, that’s the lawsuit that you’re referencing with the Douglas County commissioners. They’re actually suing the state, not the city, for state passed laws that say that local law enforcement cannot communicate with federal law enforcement for the removal of illegal aliens. And that’s going to be an interesting law, Ross. The problem here is that it’s not going to stop. And we just saw Mike Tobin 30 minutes ago in so and I mean it’s yeah, it’s just yeah come on in pretty pretty remarkable to see. Well, you guys covered the the employee of the city of Denver talking to all these illegal aliens in Denver, saying you guys should go somewhere else. Then just a couple of days ago, Denver actually sent representatives to Texas to talk to the people at the migrant shelters. They’re saying don’t come to Denver. We’re changing what we’re doing. We’re not going to give you all this free housing. And Denver is actually making a step in the right direction, backing away from this overly generous, incredibly expensive Douglas County. Yeah, we’ll see where it goes. Ross, thanks for coming back. Thank you for your time. Thanks for having me. You got it.