After more than a week of Aurora City Council conservatives making clear what they don’t want in the midst of an immigration crisis that has descended on Denver over the past year, it’s become increasingly difficult to determine what they do want.
Beginning last week, in a city council committee, council members Danielle Jurinksy and Steve Sundberg made clear exactly what they did not want and spelled it out in a draft city council resolution.
“The City Council demands organizations cease the transportation of migrants and those experiencing homelessness into Aurora without an agreement to address the financial impact and coordination of services.”
The resolution referred back to a 2017 city council debacle over whether Aurora should be considered a “sanctuary city,” assuring the public — and more importantly the former Trump administration — that it is not.
While these two lawmakers were not on the city council at the time of the 2017 debate, many at city hall certainly were there for what became one of the city’s most embarrassing moments.
“Sanctuary city” legally means nothing. The term surfaced in the 1980s, essentially from church communities. It became a pejorative label in 2016, levied against cities that made clear that local police were not immigration agents and would not actively partner with ICE in immigrant round-ups.
The logic behind that philosophy wasn’t so much based on sympathy with the plight of undocumented immigrants, it was simple pragmatism. If local police began operating as immigration agents, it would immediately drive undocumented immigrants and their families, often documented or citizens, underground. Those immigrants would be strong targets for all kinds of crime, since they would not turn to police for fear of being deported. Likewise, undocumented immigrants involved in even minor traffic incidents would be compelled to flee for fear of contact with local police.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration threatened fiscal retribution against states and municipalities it would deem “sanctuaries” to undocumented immigrants.
Aurora unwisely fell for Trump’s scam and declared that Aurora is “not a sanctuary city” despite objections from local police and even school districts, which ethically and legally could have no part in identifying students who may not have citizenship documents.
The McCarthyism-like scheme created a wave of hurt and distrust among the Latino and Hispanic communities in Aurora and across the metro area as some Trump officials threatened to ferret out so-called “DACA kids” and others that Trump branded as “illegals.”
This week, Jurinsky and other proponents of this new anti-immigrant measure repeatedly called up this ugly 2017 document. They erroneously insisted that while Aurora is not an “sanctuary city,” Denver is.
Like Aurora, Denver is not. Former Mayor Michael Hancock famously said in 2017 during the height of the controversy over the scandal, that Denver is “not a sanctuary city.” But he added that if it means that Denver is a city that treats all people with dignity, equality and respect, he would accept the slight.
Intentionally or not, proponents of the new Aurora resolution repeatedly say they “like immigrants,” while waving Aurora’s hurtful 2017 admonishment of immigrants and demanding that churches, non-profit groups and others keep “their homeless” and “their immigrants” out of Aurora. It overshadows any other message these city lawmakers are trying to deliver.
Councilmember Ruben Medina was eloquent Monday night in telling proponents of this measure that the Latino and immigrant community are not hearing what these city council conservatives think they are saying. He pointed out that, so far, the City of Aurora has done nothing to address the recent immigration crisis, and the offensive resolution literally does nothing as well.
Proponents of the resolution are saying they don’t want more immigrants, and that they do want other, larger governments to step up to the crisis.
We agree about the role of higher government. It is wholly unfair and untenable that the wholesale failure of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to solve a decades-long immigration crisis be dumped onto cities like Denver and others.
Neither Denver nor Aurora should, nor can, shoulder the burden. This is a crisis created by the federal government, and it, alone, should shoulder the financial burden it’s created.
But it won’t.
So Gov. Jared Polis and state lawmakers should immediately designate the Denver metro area a disaster area and treat it like one. Absent federal intervention, the state, alone, should shoulder the financial burden of warding off a looming humanitarian crisis.
That doesn’t seem to be what these Aurora city lawmakers want. Instead they offered a pared down version of their inflammatory demands, which just keep leveling charges and accusations at immigrants and those trying to help them.
Rather than inflict more damage on themselves and the city, Aurora council members should insist Mayor Mike Coffman join city and county officials from across the metroplex in demanding state and federal agencies provide meaningful resources to stave off an imminent crisis caused by making more than 30,000 people homeless.
ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO ACT ENTITLED TO INVADE A SOVERIGN NATION WHICH MAKES THEM THIEVES. AND THOSE WHO ARE HAPPY CAMPERS WANTING ILLEGAL ALIENS SHOULD BE JAILED.
Wow.Using all caps indicates you’re screaming out loud when voicing your anger and passion about hating immigrants. Since immigrants live in Aurora, in Colorado and all over this country, I imagine you might not be able to leave your home very often in an effort to avoid them. What a lonely life you must lead. I personally don’t know too many people who don’t have immigrants in their families so be careful about who you meet or talk to. We are everywhere.
spare us your virtue signaling
McMillan? Doesn’t sound native American.
Soooo, you’re descended from…immigrants?
There is difference between immigrants and illegal aliens. No problem with legal immigrants, no matter where they come from or what race, ethnicity, religion, etc as long as they abide by the laws.
And you know what a lot of them do?
Ask for asylum. Which can only be done IN the U.S.
So how is an asylum seeker here “illegally”?
No, they can do that in any country that isn’t their own. They don’t have to come here to do so.
Meanwhile Douglas County remains quiet — hiding behind a blatantly NIMBY policy where the Sheriff ferries any homeless they encounter to Aurora or Denver where they allege appropriate services are available. (Only because the county commissioners vote down every proposal for shelters and related services in DougCo).
More concerning: Aurora City Council takes DougCo’s NIMBY-fueled cash and remains quiet about DougCo’s methods to keep Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree relatively free of people experiencing homelessness.
If Aurora City Council were sincere, it wouldn’t be accepting DougCo’s bribes to take the county’s social problems in a manner that directly makes Aurora’s quality of life even worse. Why do residents of Castle Rock deserve streets that are relatively free of the public health and crime risks associated with homelessness (migrant or otherwise) whereas Aurora residents are not as deserving?
Denver can start busing migrants to Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree. Boulder, Aspen and Vail, too. Aurora’s already doing plenty.
It seems to be somewhat of an inconvenience for border enforcement for this Biden administration. Nonetheless, that’s the job and mission the Federal Government insist it’s their sacred obligation. Despite this duty and the convoluted excuses from political manipulation by this administration, the furtherance of the illegal immigrant flood continues. Colorado’s largest cities can no longer underwrite and bankroll this takeover. Lawmakers Jason Crow, Hickenlooper, Bennet all party-line coconspirators that have been along for the ride for this gigantic Federal charade. They have jurisdiction on this and done nothing except help create more chaos and damage. This approx. 10-13 million border jumpers have reached a boiling point across the US cities. As a result, and owed to Federal ineptness, Aurora city council symbolically is clashing with Denver. Although a lot of hot air – not having any legal teeth- just tough talk.
The good news about what’s being done in these cities that so far are disinclined to face reality to take proper corrective actions are the voters and general citizenry are making noise — And lots of it. Ranking politicians across the country are not enjoying, nor feel comfortable to face people any more in discussions to defend ridiculous sanctuary city crap. This tide is slowly turning and as with national political policy it always seems to do.
Why don’t I see any mention of the source of our influx of migrants, Governor Abbot of Texas? He continues to fill buses with these desperate people, who often only have the clothes on their backs. He tells them there are jobs and housing waiting for them here. He should be charged with kidnapping. If he needs more detention and processing facilities, get them by Federal aid, instead of engaging in this cruelly cynical act.
There’s nothing cynical about making the enemy play by its own rules, Geno-o. One of your political allies wrote an entire book of rules about it.
‘The enemy?’ Who is that, exactly? What a sad, dark, fearful, and hate filled world you must live in. Dial down your rage, look for joy; you’ll live longer.
Your side also loves to play dumb and LARP as psychoanalysts when its dialectic is called out, too.
The last time I checked, the Biden administration was doing the same thing, but using planes instead to fly immigrants into “red states” under cover of darkness to hide their tracks from the media. Would you suggest they also be charged with kidnapping for their cruel cynical act?
Please cite a reliable source.
What do you suggest that Governor abbot do with millions of illegal immigrants? They are getting no real support from the federal government. Everything that he tries to do to stop the flow, is overturned by the president. We don’t even know how many people have illegally crossed the border at this point, but somewhere in the area of 7000000…how is one state supposed to deal with that? He had no choice but to move them out of his state.
How silly and simple is the title of your editorial. As you call the “callous Aurora rhetoric” is our Councils action on the immigrant crisis. The Council says, we demand you do not send these new semi-illegal border crossers to our city, Aurora.
Seems very reasonable to me no matter what your editorial states. It should have been done a year or so ago. Thank you conservative Council members.
Get on board socialist’s, Coombs, Murillo and what the Sentinel states eloquent, Medina. I’ll bet that is the first time you have ever been called eloquent, right, Rueben?
Most Aurora citizens do not want any of our precious budget going to these semi- illegal immigrants nor the homeless. Send them to Denver, Washington DC or anywhere else. Let’s not let our City be run by socialist mores.
Please Google King Canute