WATCH: Sanctuary city mayors deflect, defend policies under lawmaker questioning

Four sanctuary city mayors who spent millions of state and federal taxpayer dollars to accommodate illegal immigrants denied that blocking federal agents from deporting criminal migrants violated federal law at a committee hearing Wednesday.

Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform committee grilled Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a hearing Wednesday.

The mayors defended restrictions they approved that prevented local authorities from cooperating with detainer and deportation requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for illegal immigrants that committed crimes.

They claimed they were merely responding in a humanitarian way to a bad situation — the influx of six million migrants released on parole into the U.S. during the Biden administration — despite each declaring their cities “welcome” to the unvetted migrants.

Johnson of Chicago accused lawmakers of “scapegoating immigrant communities” for correlating rises in crime in sanctuary cities, claiming instead that “the city is safer because of our Welcoming City Ordinance” which does “not prevent cooperation with federal law enforcement on criminal matters.”

The ordinance prevented local officials from arresting, detaining, or continuing to detain illegal foreign nationals subject to an administrative warrant, as well as restricted city agencies from sharing information about an individual’s immigration status with federal immigration authorities.

Johnson argued that crackdowns on illegal immigration actually deteriorate public safety because undocumented crime victims or witnesses won’t go to the police if they believe they will be deported.

“Put simply, any actions that amplify fears of deportations make Chicago more dangerous,” Johnson said. “I know there are myths about these laws, but we must not let mischaracterizations and fear mongering obscure the reality that Chicago’s crime rates are trending down. We still have a long way to go, but sensationalizing tragedy in the name of political expediency is not governing, it’s grandstanding.”

As of September, ICE said there are 662,566 illegal immigrants with criminal histories living free in the United States.

Johnston, of Denver, denied any positive correlation between the influx of 42,000 illegal immigrants into his city and the crime rate, pointing to a recently decreased crime rate in Denver.

However, as The Center Square previously reported, crime escalated in the nearby city of Aurora after Johnston sent violent Venezuelan prison gang members there.

Johnston told lawmakers that his city would hand over criminal illegal aliens if they received a warrant from ICE. But, as Republicans pointed out, Denver’s policies forbade law enforcement from informing ICE, meaning warrants could not be issued and therefore no detainment actions could be taken.

Additionally, Denver refused to allow ICE officers to access county jails themselves and also passed an ordinance that forbids any city employee from contacting ICE.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., did not hold back her criticism, telling the mayors “you all have blood on your hands.”

But Wu, who reaffirmed in December that Boston won’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts, shifted the blame of the immigration crisis onto the Trump administration rather than the Boston Trust Act, which forbade Boston police officers from cooperating with ICE on detainment enforcement.

“We are the safest major city in the nation, because we are safe for everyone,” she told lawmakers, adding that “this administration’s approach is undermining that trust” between residents and police officers.

“No one’s asking you to go round up criminal illegal aliens,” Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, interjected. “We are asking you to take people who are already in your custody and hand them over to legal federal law enforcement.”

Cloud did acknowledge Adams, of New York City, for recently reversing his position of blaming Republicans for welcoming federal immigration enforcement efforts. Adams also recently shut down migrant shelter sites across the city.

Despite those recent pivots, Adams insisted during the hearing that the city’s code provisions, which prohibit local law enforcement and city employees from honoring ICE immigration detainer requests or providing them information, violated federal law.

“Federal law did not allow me to stop buses from entering New York City. State law required me to provide all in our city with housing and meals, and to educate children. City law makes it unlawful to collaborate with ICE for civil enforcement,” Adams said.

New York City has spent over $6.9 billion in taxpayer dollars to accommodate illegal immigrants over the last four years, according to Adams.

Throughout the border crisis, Democratic mayors nationwide called on the Biden administration to provide federal funding to compensate their cities for housing, feeding and providing a range of free social services to illegal border crossers at the taxpayer’s expense, The Center Square reported.