As busloads of illegal immigrants arrive in Colorado, straining every fabric of our social services network, it is fun to blame Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. He’s the bad guy – the man putting people on buses. It’s all for show, Abbott’s critics say.

“They’re not even asking if they want to come to Denver or not. They’re just sending them,” said Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spokesperson, as quoted in a Gazette news article by Nicole C. Brambila.

There’s a reason for that, but public officials seem to forget.

A 2017 memo by then-Denver Sheriff Gary Wilson does not mince words regarding the treatment immigrants should expect in Denver. The city wants papers. Not from immigrants, but from any official of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency who dares enforce immigration law in Denver.

“Any ICE official who requests to hold a person without proper legal documents to do so shall be denied,” the sheriff wrote.

A 2017 ordinance prohibits city employees “from collecting information on immigration or citizenship status; prohibits the sharing of any other information about individuals for purposes of immigration enforcement …”

In other words, city employees break the law if they assist with immigration enforcement. They break the law by merely allowing federal immigration officials on city property.

After passing the 2017 law, Denver stopped sending federal officials the daily incarceration sheets the government used to monitor criminal immigrants.

“If being a sanctuary city means that we value taking care of one another, and welcoming refugees and immigrants, then I welcome the title,” said then-Denver Mayor Michael Hancock in a 2017 YouTube video.

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Six years later, just this spring, Hancock reiterated his invitation to immigrants during a meeting with The Gazette’s editorial board.

“We’ve always been ahead of the curve in terms of being open, in terms of being inclusive and welcoming to people who want to come to our city, work hard and observe the rules and laws of our city… that’s who we are,” Hancock told us. “And I always say, if that’s what it means to be a sanctuary city then put us in that category.”

When federal officials fought Denver in court during the Trump administration over these issues, city and state leaders took offense.

“In Colorado, we value and respect our immigrant community,” said Conor Cahill, the top spokesman for Gov. Jared Polis, in a 2020 email. “This is another weak attempt to divide us.”

We could go on. Suffice to know city and state officials asked to harbor immigrants in writing, on video, in public and on multiple occasions. In case that were not enough, they passed a law.

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden ended construction on Trump’s border wall. Under Biden, ICE officials undermine Abbott’s efforts to secure the border with concertina wire, patrols and barbed wire buoys.

With the border open, thousands of immigrants flood Texas daily. They need places to live. They need food. They need communities that welcome and care for them – wealthy places that offer “sanctuary.”

Denver is nothing like a typical Texas border town. Consider Muniz, Texas, where residents live on a median household income of $13,500 – about $122,300 less than the median Denver income in ZIP code 80238.

The cruelest thing Abbott could do is leave these newcomers in the desert, or in impoverished border towns that have little wealth to share. As a compassionate man, he looks for welcoming locations. The short list will always include Denver – unless city and state officials change the law and messaging.

Our duly elected public officials asked for this, and the electorate offered no resistance. Don’t invite the masses and then place blame when they show up.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board