Discussions at a committee hearing became heated over immigration issues and solutions.
Congressional hearings often feature vigorous debate and pointed disagreements between Democrats and Republicans, yet lawmakers typically find at least some common ground to compromise and keep the legislative process moving forward.
That was not the case during Wednesday’s House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing, which featured the mayors of four of the nation’s largest self-proclaimed sanctuary cities.
The four included New York Mayor Eric Adams, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, all Democrats. Cato Institute Director of Immigration Studies David Bier was also a witness, appearing on behalf of Democrats.
Republicans, led by panel chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), repeatedly portrayed the mayors as violating federal laws by refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers seeking to remove illegal immigrants from their jurisdictions.
Democrats, led by Ranking Member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), said illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than American citizens and praised the mayors of Denver, Chicago, and Boston for allegedly making their cities safer, thanks to their sanctuary status.
The gulf between the two sides’ understanding of the most basic issues extended even to what constitutes genuine cooperation between federal, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies.
When House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) questioned Denver’s Johnston, the two men went back and forth wrangling over whether Denver officials coordinated properly with ICE agents seeking to arrest Abraham Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is an alleged Venezuelan gang member who was arrested and released by U.S. border officials in 2023, then charged with multiple felonies and held by local authorities in Denver.
An ICE detainer was issued for Gonzalez last year and shared with Denver officials, who were asked to give federal lawmen at least 48 hours’ notice if they planned to release him from a local jail.
“What kind of notice did you give ICE?” Jordan asked Johnston, who said he didn’t know the specific time. “One hour, you gave them one hour notice,” Jordan replied.
The Ohio Republican then displayed for the hearing a photo of the Denver Sheriff Department record showing Gonzales was released “to the streets” after being held in custody for nearly a year.
Johnston said that ICE officials had sufficient notice, because six agents appeared at the Denver County Jail. Jordan pointed out that the local officials didn’t release Gonzalez to ICE custody in the jail, they released him in the facility’s parking lot.
“I’ve reviewed the video, I looked at it and I’ve talked to the sheriff last night … there were six officers that had multiple tasers,” Johnston replied.
When Jordan asked why Gonzalez was not released inside the jail to the ICE officers, Johnston said local officials had performed more than 1,200 such releases and the Gonzalez situation was the first such incident.
“It’s a simple question, you can release him in the parking lot, give ICE one hour notice and then they got to send six officers to arrest this guy or you can say ‘we’re going to hold him in the jail,’ you come in, bring two officers and you turn him over there. Why not do it that way?” Jordan asked.
The mayor said a Denver city ordinance prescribed the procedure local officials are to follow in dealing with ICE.
“You know why you don’t do it that way? Because you are a sanctuary city,” Jordan retorted.
Similar examples were cited by other GOP committee members. Democrats repeatedly responded by citing academic studies they said demonstrated that crime rates are lower among “immigrants.”
One of those studies, conducted in 2024 by the American Immigration Council (AIC), examined crime data from 1980 through 2022 and found “that as the immigrant share of the population grew, the crime rate declined.” The data don’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.
In 1980, the study said, immigrants were 6.2 percent of the U.S. population, and the per capita crime rate was 5,900 crimes per 100,000 people. Forty-two years later, there were more than twice as many immigrants at 13.9 percent but the per capita crime rate dropped to 2,335 crimes per 100,000 people.
Democrats also cited similar studies by the Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research and by the libertarian Cato Institute.
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) countered the Democrats’ crime studies, saying, “we have no idea how many illegal immigrants in this country are committing crimes in this country because nobody keeps track.”
Grothman then asked the four mayors if they think an individual who crosses the border into the United States and remains here illegally should be detained and returned to their home country.
Adams agreed with Grothman, but the other three mayors equivocated. Johnston said, “We’re serving folks who are seeking asylum.” Chicago’s Johnson cited his support of a comprehensive immigration reform proposal introduced last year in the Senate but declined to respond specifically to Grothman’s question.
Wu did respond, saying she believes the nation should have strong borders and an efficient immigration system, but she qualified her response by saying a deportation program would be harmful.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) confirmed with each of the mayors that their cities are sanctuary cities that limit how local law enforcement officials interact with federal immigration personnel.
Biggs then pointed out that three federal laws make it illegal to deny information about an individual’s immigration status to U.S. officials, to harbor an illegal immigrant, to prevent the serving of an ICE detainer order, or to prevent access to evidence in a case. Even so, all four of the cities’ sanctuary city ordinances bar such cooperation.
“None of you and none of your agencies within your municipalities are communicating or passing over [to ICE] someone where there is an ICE removal detainer,” Biggs said. “You’ve got to start realizing what your criminal culpability is on that … every one of you is exposed to criminal culpability here.”
None of the mayors responded to Biggs’ comment.