Utah Gov. Spencer Cox blasted Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration on social media last week, saying it is “completely unacceptable” to bus immigrants — who crossed the southern border illegally and ended up in Colorado’s most populous city — to the Beehive State.

“We recently learned that the Democrat mayor of Denver has been sending illegal immigrants to Utah without proper notification or approval,” Cox wrote Friday on X, formerly Twitter. “This is completely unacceptable and follows on the failed catch-and-release policy of the Biden administration.”

It is unclear why Cox was taken by surprise. Denver has been busing immigrants to the final destination of their choice since December 2022, when 90 immigrants were dropped off downtown to wander in the cold, setting off a crisis that has threatened the city’s finances.

“Every state has received illegal immigrants and Utah’s resources are completely depleted,” Cox said on the social media platform. “All 50 states, including Utah, are now border states due to the failed immigration policies of President Biden and Congress.”

A Cox spokesperson said Monday that the city of Denver on May 13 informed Salt Lake City officials that it was sending immigrants to Utah without resources.

“Denver did not consult with us prior to instigating this practice,” Cox’s office said in an email.

Salt Lake City and the state of Utah are unable to provide services to arriving immigrants, Cox’s office added.

“Denver must end this practice and Congress and the president must do their job and fix this untenable situation,” the Utah governor’s office said.

Echoing the chorus of governors and mayors — including Gov. Jared Polis and Johnston — Cox called on the Biden administration and Congress to address the immigration this crisis.

The Republican governor’s social media comments came three days after a crowd booed Cox for being “too moderate” during a televised debate against his primary challenger, Phil Lyman, a former county commissioner turned state legislator.

Cox’s brand of conservatism has led, on occasion, to sparring matches with Republican leaders, placing him at odds with some of his party. For example, Cox has vetoed several bills, including a transgender athlete ban in 2022, arguing it targeted a very small number of vulnerable kids already at high risk for suicide.

Utah lawmakers overrode his veto, saying the state needs the law to protect women’s sports. The lawmakers argued that more transgender athletes with possible physical advantages could eventually dominate the field and change the nature of women’s sports without legal intervention.

The Republican primary winner in Utah will face Democratic nominee Brian King in November. Utah’s regular primary election is next Tuesday.

Cox, who took office in 2021, is considered the overwhelming favorite among Republican voters.

During the debate last week, Lyman implied Cox has been a weak leader and pitched himself as a stronger alternative.

“I’m not against polite words, but there’s a point where we have to use aggressive rhetoric,” Lyman said during the debate. “Utah should have a governor who stands up for the people, who speaks frankly, who is understood.”

Utah is a deeply red state that has not seen a Democrat in the governor’s mansion since Ronald Reagan was president.

‘Buses chartered from Texas’

Early in the crisis, Denver officials decided that city taxpayers would assume the cost of temporarily sheltering the immigrants — many fleeing political and social unrest in Venezuela — as well as tickets to their final destination.

Since December 2022, the city has purchased 22,000 plane, train and bus tickets, said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for Denver Human Services, which is managing the humanitarian response.

Salt Lake City is among the more popular destinations, behind Chicago and New York City, Ewing said. Roughly 2,000 tickets were purchased for a Utah destination, 59 in the past 30 days alone.

“That was probably 10 days in December for us,” Ewing said comparing the hundreds Denver was seeing daily in December and January.

City officials here have argued that Denver’s “onward travel” program differs from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s move in one significant way — immigrants have a choice of where they wind up.

“Denver has served more than 42,000 newcomers, and the vast majority of newcomers arriving in Denver do so on buses chartered from Texas and had no intention of ever coming to Denver,” Jordan Fuja, a Johnston spokesperson, said in an email to The Denver Gazette.

Abbott’s Operation Lone Star has bused more than 118,000 immigrants to so-called “sanctuary” cities in Democratic strongholds. Abbott has bused to Denver alone more than 19,000.

Generally, a sanctuary city refers to policies that discourage local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

To date, the city has received 42,323 immigrants at a cost of more than $71 million.

While Denver has received state and federal funding, taxpayers are shouldering the bulk of the expenses.

In January — when Denver was sheltering about 5,000 immigrants nightly — Johnston warned that the costs could reach up to $180 million this year. He has since proposed roughly $40 million in cuts, primarily to public safety, to various departments.

The city’s spending on the crisis is now expected to be about half that or $90 million.

Despite officials in El Paso Texas blaming onward travel for drawing immigrants to Denver, officials here have doubled down on its onward travel policy as part of the city’s new long-term strategy designed to pivot away from an emergency response.

In the city’s so-called “Newcomer Program” immigrants receive at taxpayers’ expense six months of rental, food and utility assistance, a computer, prepaid cell phone and metro bus passes.

‘If we’re hiding it, we’re doing a pretty bad job about it’

A statewide poll earlier this year showed illegal immigration emerging as the paramount issue for Colorado voters. Roughly two in three view the unprecedented influx as a major problem lawmakers should address.

Democrats and Republicans have both hurled blame at each other.

Last year, Polis came under fire from the mayors of Chicago and New York after Colorado bused immigrants to those cities, without advance notice. The dustup threatened to sour Colorado’s relationships with New York City and Chicago, whose leaders called for the bussing to end last year.

Ewing said that trickle of immigrants arriving daily — just eight arrived yesterday compared to hundreds of overnight arrivals earlier this year — has not necessitated reaching out to other states when only one or two are being bused.

A flight to Salt Lake City over the Memorial Day holiday, though, may have slipped through the cracks, Ewing said.

But Ewing was also quick to point out that the city has not been shy about discussing its travel policy for new arrivals.

“If we’re hiding it, we’re doing a pretty bad job about it,” Ewing said.

In the 18 months since Denver began its own busing programming, the Mile High City has purchased more than 2,000 tickets for immigrants to travel to Salt Lake City.

“We would never want another city to go through what Denver’s been through,” Ewing said, adding the city will do better about providing notification.

Since Friday, the city has purchased 22,000 bus, plane and train tickets to 48 states excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

It’s uncertain how many of the 42,000 new immigrant arrivals have decided to make Denver home. The number of tickets purchased for onward travel suggests about half have stayed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.