Denver Dem mayor busses illegal immigrants to Utah amid Biden’s border crisis

According to a report from 2KUTV, Mayor Mike Johnston's Denver, Colorado has officially sent around 2,000 illegal immigrants to Utah. Denver City-County Department of Human Services spokesman Jon Ewing told the outlet, "Any individual who travels through our system makes their own decision on their destination." He added, "We are simply helping people connect with family, friends, or existing support systems."

Over the last few months, there have been reports that illegal immigrants were being sent to Utah, including not just from Denver, but from New York as well. 2KUTV reported about a week ago that an email was sent out by the Salt Lake Police, saying that illegal immigrant families that were "processed" at the border, were sent to Denver and then sent to Salt Lake.

"They arrived in Salt Lake City with very little information other than instructions to find a person in uniform to help," Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown wrote in a message.

Denver paid for the tickets through the city and a spokesman added that in "rare instances" plane tickets are used to transport the immigrants to Utah. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall claimed that she was unaware of the illegal immigrant being transported up to Utah. The Salt Lake City mayor's office stated that there is a "limit to the resources we can provide to people in need."

According to a February Denverite report, since 2022, more than 18,600 tickets have been purchased for illegal immigrants to go to different locations. This included 3,400 to Chicago, 2,880 to New York City, and 1,680 to Salt Lake City at the time of the report. The number that has now been sent to Utah is around 2,000.

Democrat Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was criticized by the Utah governor in response to the actions.

Utah's Governor Spencer Cox wrote in a post in response to the report, "We recently learned that the Democrat mayor of Denver has been sending illegal immigrants to Utah without proper notification or approval." He added, "Once again we call on the Biden administration and Congress to solve this crisis."

Reports of illegal immigration in the state of Utah, however, have been going on for months. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, there was a 548 percent spike in immigration court cases from 2021-2023 in the Beehive state. Most of this spike has occurred in Salt Lake County, which accounted for around two-thirds of immigration cases. The Tribune reported the rate of immigration cases per capita was higher than in Maricopa County, Arizona.

The outlet added that Aden Batar, the director of migration services for the Catholic Community Services of Utah, stated in March, “Almost every week, we have asylum seekers coming to our agency seeking services.”