Trump critic Johnston spent $356mn taxpayer money on migrants in Denver: Report

Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston recently challenged US President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans, declaring that he is “willing to got jail” in a bide to protect migrants. Responding to his statement, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, asserted that “I’m willing to put him in jail.”
Amidst this dispute, a startling report has claimed that Denver has spent $356 million of taxpayer dollars on migrants, despite rising discontent among locals who claim the surge in illegal migrants has crippled the city.
The nonpartisan Common Sense Institute (CSI), a research group devoted to safeguarding and advancing the US economy, released this report.
According to data, Johnston has spent $7,900 on each migrant in the city.
The massive inflow of migrants, which the CSI believes has seen about 45,000 enter the Colorado city since December 2022, has raised questions about Denver’s sanctuary city status.
Johnston has been pushed to take severe measures this year to deal with the issue, including cutting $30 million in governmental programs and contingency money from taxpayer coffers, despite his pledge that he will oppose deportations.
The new CSI analysis, which Fox News first reported, claims that education accounts for a sizable portion of the $356 million migrant expense.
Last year, more than 16,000 migrant kids were enrolled in Denver’s public school system.
“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 study revealed.
Last CSI reports calculated that the annual cost of instruction and support for each student in the Denver metro area was $14,100. It is assumed that the overall cost of all recent migrant students is $228 million.
Given that the migrant cost represents 8% of the city’s $4.4 billion budget in 2025, Johnston has stated that he is likely to make bigger budget cuts.
Additionally, the CSI analysis discovered that undocumented immigrants’ migrant bill accounts for childcare, travel, hotel rooms, and medical amounting to $49 million in unpaid care.
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A city audit released Thursday revealed that the administration of Johnston is having trouble maintaining the safety of homeless shelters and is not keeping track of their expenditures.
Eight new shelters were hurriedly set up as a result of the mayor’s intention to house 1,000 homeless people by the end of 2023, the audit found, leaving an understaffed agency overburdened and unable to adequately manage security.
According to a survey, 15 out of 20 department employees, or 75%, stated that mayoral efforts and citywide emergencies affected their capacity to do their duties.
The investigation identified “weaknesses” in the shelter management procedure of the Department of Housing Stability.
The city is estimated to have spent close to $150 million on non-migrant shelter-related expenditures, according to the audit, which says Denver “lacks a formalized, strategic approach to ensuring timely security measures are in place” across all of its shelters.