Study: Democrat-Run Denver Splashes $350+ Million on Migrants

Far-left Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has overseen $356 million of taxpayers’ hard-earned money being spent on migrants. The total amounts to $7,900 per foreign national in the Mile High City.

The sum was revealed by the Common Sense Institute (CSI), a non-partisan research organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the U.S. economy, Fox News reports.

The group says it used city data to arrive at the sum which equates to eight percent of the city’s 2025 budget of $4.4 billion. The figures combine the Colorado city’s budget as well as regional education and healthcare organizations.

Johnston has already slashed city services to house and feed those migrants.

Cuts included reducing services at recreation centers and stopping the planting of spring flower beds, while the city tapped into a contingency fund to pay for the spiraling costs, Fox News notes. It adds:

The CSI claims that the bulk of the $356 million spent on migrants was through education, with the city also splashing out on healthcare, hotels, transportation and childcare. Denver is a sanctuary city, meaning it does not enforce immigration law, nor does the city cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The group says that about 45,000 migrants have arrived in the Denver metro area since December 2022, with 16,197 migrant students enrolling in Denver metro schools.

“The total cost to Denver metro schools related to new migrant students is $228 million annually, which would equate to 1-2% of the total state K-12 education budget for the 2024-25 academic year,” the group writes.

“Previous CSI reporting estimated the per-student cost of instruction and support in the Denver metro to be $14,100 per year. Assuming this cost across all recent migrant students totals $228 million.

Arrivals seek shelter in the largest migrant encampment on 27th Ave. between Zuni St. and Alcott St. in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. The City Council has allocated $300,000 for migrant families from this campsite to help cover their first month’s rent. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post/Getty)

As Breitbart News reported, Johnston is known for his generous support for President Joe Biden’s illegal migrants and promised to use the city’s police department to physically oppose the efforts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to fulfill President-elect Donald Trump’s repatriation mandate.

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar” designate, has responded by saying he would jail Johnston if he broke the law in shielding illegal migrants.

“All he has to do is look at Arizona v. U.S., and he would see he’s breaking the law. But, look, 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.”

For his part, Johnston said he is “not afraid” of going to jail, and has compared his efforts the infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in China, the Daily Mail reports.

‘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,’ Johnston said.