By As Donald Trump prepares to move back into the White House, Democrats in sanctuary cities across the United States have said they’ll stand and fight against the president. Leaders in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York have pledged to shield their immigrant populations, despite looming legal and financial battles with the federal government.
First announced in October, Trump announced a plan to launch “operation Aurora.” Named after the town in Colorado where gang members took over an apartment complex, the plan will focus on deporting gang members and other illegal immigrants with criminal records.
The plan also includes strict consequences for those who attempt to reenter the U.S. after deportation. The soon-to-be president also pledged to push to have repeat offenders face an automatic 10-year prison sentence without the possibility of parole.
That’s just too much for some Democratic mayors, however, writes News Nation.
In states like Colorado, Illinois and New York, where hundreds of thousands of migrants have been bused from the southern border by GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, officials have doubled down on their promise to protect newcomers.
Los Angeles became the latest city to approve sanctuary status after the City Council unanimously approved a measure this week.
An estimated 1.8 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally live in California, more than any other state, with nearly a million in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass expedited the sanctuary city ordinance as resistance to Trump’s mass deportation plan.
In Chicago, where more than 50,000 new arrivals have been sent since 2022, Mayor Brandon Johnson has characterized Trump as a tyrant and says the city’s police force has enough work to do without assisting in apprehending immigrants convicted of serious crimes.
“We’re not going to bend or break or cower to someone’s threat,” Johnson told reporters after the election. “We’re going to stand up and unite around our shared values, and (residents) have my assurance that I’m going to protect the families of this city.”
[Democrat Senator Claims That Migrants Are The ‘Americans They Care About]
No one, however, has promised to fight the federal government like the Mayor of Denver recently did, however. Mayor Mike Johnston recently announced that city police would not assist in federal immigration enforcement and added that the state’s leadership is unlikely to allow federal forces to mobilize in Colorado, reported Newsweek.
“‘Unless they were planning on bringing National Guards mobilized from Texas or Alabama to come invade Colorado, I don’t know where they would find the forces to begin to do that,’ Johnston said.
Johnston expressed confidence that Denver residents would support these efforts, comparing potential public resistance to federal actions to the iconic 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China.
‘More than us having [Denver Police] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,’ he said. ‘It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.'”
Earlier in the year, Johnston announced that Denver would be cutting services in order to pay for illegal immigrants who had flooded the city.
In February, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson was slashing city budgets trying to pay for the influx of illegal immigrants. He even went so far as to ask residents to house the “newcomers”
Now Johnson is threatening to deploy city police against any attempts of deportation pic.twitter.com/6IFdHhskfC
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) November 21, 2024
In June, Johnston was accused of shipping the undocumented “newcomers” out of his city and into Utah without notifying authorities.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said he recently learned the Democratic mayor of Denver had sent thousands of migrants to his state.
“We recently learned that the Democrat mayor of Denver has been sending illegal immigrants to Utah without proper notification or approval,” Cox said. “This is completely unacceptable and follows on the failed catch-and-release policy of the Biden administration.”
His statement continued: “Every state has received illegal immigrants and Utah’s resources are completely depleted. All 50 states, including Utah, are now border states due to the failed immigration policies of President Biden and Congress. Once again we call on the Biden administration and Congress to solve this crisis.”
The mayors of Chicago and Denver have previously begged the Biden administration for help in dealing with the rising population of undocumented immigrants in their cities.
[Read More: Famous Liberal Loses Her Mind Over Trump]
