By Heather Willard | Fox31
DENVER (KDVR) — Denver was once again in President Donald Trump’s sights as he directed federal immigration officers to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities following large-scale protests across the U.S.
Trump, in a social media post, called on U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”
The president said that ICE officers are harassed and threatened by “Radical Democrat Politicians,” and directed ICE agents to “detain and deport” undocumented immigrants in America’s largest cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. Denver has been included among the so-called “sanctuary cities,” with Mayor Mike Johnston appearing before the U.S. House Oversight Committee to defend the city’s immigration policies.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a list of sanctuary jurisdictions across America, including several counties and cities in Colorado that federal officials alleged were defying immigration laws.
The list has since been removed, and many Colorado leaders of named jurisdictions raised concerns that they did not believe they were “sanctuary jurisdictions.” Weld and El Paso counties, both with high numbers of conservative residents, were among the jurisdictions named in the list.
At the same time, the Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity.