Denver Mayor Michael Hancock says that the city will turn over documents to avoid a threatened subpoena from the Department of Justice.
The DOJ said last week that it wants to see if Denver's carefully-crafted immigration directives stray into violating the federal law that prohibits city employees from refusing to communicate with immigration agents. Denver's one of 23 "sanctuaries" across the country to receive letters from the DOJ to that effect.
Previously, the city said they were examining the request.
"Oh, absolutely," Hancock said, when 9NEWS reporter Marshall Zelinger asked if the city will turn over emails or other documents with those details. "There's nothing that we're doing in violation of the federal law, so we have no problems whatsoever sharing that information."
Zelinger specifically asked the mayor about the ICE director's plea to let his agents take suspected criminals into custody in safe places, like city jails, rather than risking dangerous raids in the community. Denver has been criticized for giving ICE little warning before releasing people wanted for deportation. Hancock echoed the famous phrase etched everywhere from the Constitution to doormats: come back with a warrant.
"At the end of the day, if you know we're holding someone that you suspect to be involved with criminal activity in the city of Denver, we're not going to do your job. Bring us a warrant, say, 'I need to see someone,' and we will fully cooperate with the DOJ and ICE," the mayor said.
After receiving the letter from the Department of Justice last week, Hancock said on Twitter that he would not be attending a White House event for all the mayors who were in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He was one of several mayors who chose not to attend - a decision Pres. Trump scolded them for, saying, "The mayors who choose to boycott this event have put the needs of criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans."
Hancock's team said later, however, that the mayor mostly made that decision before the letter was ever released. Hancock said today that he didn't want to attend, but the letter made it official.
"We received an invitation to the White House. I reluctantly RSVP'd to keep the door open. I wanted to see if there would be incitations that we would actually have a substantive conversation about infrastructure, about housing, about immigration. But I can tell you, for the most part, I did not want to attend," the mayor told Zelinger. "When the letter came out, that was the last straw that broke the camel's back."
You can watch Next's full interview, in which we ask Hancock if he has any plans to run for Senate, here.
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