Yesterday was apparently Backwards Day in Denver, Colorado as the city council passed the hilariously named Denver Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act. While the name would lead you to believe that they’re working on enhancing public safety, the measure actually pushes the city even further into the realm of lawlessness by putting additional restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) work in the city and provides more ways for illegal aliens to escape detection and deportation. Their mayor, Michael Hancock, has already indicated that he’s eager to sign the bill into law. (KDVR Denver)

Denver’s City Council unanimously passed a new ordinance Monday limiting how the city works with immigration officials. The ordinance bans city officials from asking an arrested individual’s immigration status. The city will ignore ICE detainer requests and ban ICE from conducting in-person jail interviews. The move comes after a Republican state lawmaker wrote a letter to the justice department demanding a federal investigation into Denver, saying the measure could increase the risk of crime.

In addition to refusing detainers and banning ICE officers from the jails, Mayor Hancock announced a new executive order which will create a legal defense fund for illegal aliens (paid for by the taxpayers, obviously) and a “working group” to monitor developments in this area.

The city is doing this knowing full well that they are placing themselves in line to have their DoJ grant money cut. Another local news outlet already did the research to calculate precisely what’s on the line. (Channel 9 News, Denver)

“We are choosing to forgo some funding that requires us to collect data that we don’t need to have. We don’t want to collect information on national origin or citizenship, it puts our residents at risk,” said Denver City Council Member Robin Kniech. “For other grants related to law enforcement safety, we fully believe the administration has overstepped their boundaries, they are not following proper protocol for rule making.” Last year Denver received a little more than $904,000 in JAG funds, which is now at risk along with any other federal funding the administration has threatened to withhold from sanctuary cities.

That’s nearly a million dollars in JAG funds. Is the city truly so flush with cash that their police department can leave that kind of money on the table in the name of political correctness and #RESISTING President Trump? I suppose only the voters can answer that question.

I’m still left wondering precisely how much longer the residents of Denver are going to put up with this. The City Council can create all of the curiously named laws it likes, but the fact is that they are making the city’s residents less safe, not more. Their government is making clear that they are prioritizing the security of known criminals over the safety and welfare of their law abiding citizens. And they’re chopping their own funding which allows law enforcement to do their jobs to boot. But as long as they keep electing people like Mayor Hancock and the current City Council they will no doubt be getting more of the same. If you can’t change the current leadership it might be time to consider getting the heck out of Denver.