The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on “sanctuary cities” took a sharp turn Wednesday with Republican members threatening to refer Democratic mayors, such as Mike Johnston, to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation.

U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, called the failure of Democratic mayors from Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York to cooperate with federal authorities a federal crime.

Based on responses these mayors provided Wednesday to the committee, Luna, waving a stack of documents, said she would be walking a referral to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi following the hearing.

“You all speak about a broken immigration system, and yet here you guys are aiding and abetting in that entire process,” Luna said.

Luna said these mayors were not “bad people” but “ideologically misled.”

She and other Republicans on the committee repeatedly pressed Johnston on whether he is still willing to go to jail to obstruct President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.

“I did say that I’d be willing to stand up for our residents,” Johnston said. “And the context was that was the point when the administration was threatening to deploy the U.S. military to the streets of our cities to pull kids out of schools and churches.”

Johnston was referring to the long-standing practice of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents refraining from conducting enforcement operations in “sensitive” locations, such as churches, schools and places of worship.

One of Trump’s first actions upon returning to the White House was to reverse this practice, prompting a number of lawsuits, including one from Denver Public Schools.

At the center of Wednesday’s Congressional hearing is the policies by municipalities dubbed “sanctuary cities” to prevent or discourage local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

Throughout the hearing, Republicans repeatedly pressed Johnston on his vow to defy the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, while Democrats pushed back on claims that Trump’s mass deportation effort would make cities safer. The latter vigorously defended the mayors, with the notable exception of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Federal authorities charged Adams in September for accepting more than $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and travel perks from a Turkish official and others while Adams was Brooklyn borough president.

Trump’s Justice Department reversed course and ordered New York prosecutors to the drop the case, and Democrats effectively accused the mayor of securing a backroom deal. Seven prosecutors resigned in protest.

“There was no quid pro quo, no agreement,” Adams said. “I did nothing wrong.”

It was a statement Adams repeated throughout the hearing.

Mayor says city ‘made a choice’ 

More than 320,000 immigrants arrived in Chicago, Denver and New York City over the past four years, the mayors from these cities said. The immigrants illegally crossed into the U.S. from Mexico, as the border crisis spiraled, spilling into America’s interior cities.   

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said officials do not ask about an individual’s immigration status and therefore did not have any statistics on how many have arrived in her city.

The cost of the response to New York City taxpayers was a staggering $7 billion, Adams told committee members.

In Denver, those costs stood at roughly $89 million, although Johnston provided a slightly different figure to the committee.

Johnston’s handling of illegal immigration took center stage, as he sought to justify his response to the crisis before the lawmakers.

With buses dropping hundreds of immigrants off daily in Denver, Johnston tried to frame the crisis in moral terms.

In his prepared statement, Johnston quoted Matthew 25:35.

“As a man of faith, I have a moral obligation to care for those in need,” Johnston told the committee. “As scripture says: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty. you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in.

“So, that’s what we did. In Denver, we believe our problems are solvable and we are the ones to solve them. So, we went to work.”

Johnston also sought to shift the blame to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his busing program, which transported more than 100,000 immigrants out of The Lone Star State to Chicago, Denver and New York City over the last two and half years.

Abbott bused roughly 19,200 immigrants to Denver alone, which represents about half of all the immigrants who arrived in the city.

“When those buses kept on coming, Denver made a choice as a city, not to hate each other, but to help each other, not to turn on each other, but to turn to each other, and see if together we can solve a problem that felt bigger than anyone of us,” Johnston said.

Republican congressman to Johnston: ‘You release him to the streets’

With immigrants arriving in frigid conditions wearing little more than sweatshirts and slippers, Johnston implied that it was not a time to debate the nation’s immigration policies.

Key to the city’s that strategy was to expand temporary housing and assist 8,700 immigrants file asylum and work permits.

Johnston also said in his prepared statement that, despite seeing more than 40,000 immigrants in two years, that influx did not result in a corresponding crime wave.

Homicides, Johnston said, dropped 17%, shooting victims by 24% and auto theft by 29%.

Lawmakers — particularly U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican — pressed Johnston on a release and taser incident on Friday involving ICE agents and Abraham Gonzales, an alleged member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) charged with multiple felonies.

TdA, which has gained a foothold in metro Denver, had taken over at least two apartment complexes in neighboring Aurora.  

Jordan said Denver informed ICE an hour before releasing Gonzales, suggesting the short notice resulted in agents being assaulted.

“You release him to the streets,” Jordan said. “Why not release him to ICE?”

Johnston disputed the characterization that the city’s policy shielded criminals from law enforcement and noted that local officials have worked with federal agents on more than 1,200 ICE detainers over the past seven years.

It was a statistic that Johnston repeated several times throughout the more than five hours of testimony.

“Going forward, each of you need to cooperate to the fullest extent of your ability,” U.S. Rep. William Timmons, a South Carolina Republican, told the mayors.

Over the past two years, Denver welcomed nearly 43,000 immigrants, most from South and Central America. While city officials have not tracked how many have stayed in Colorado, bus, plane and train tickets purchased for onward travel suggest about half have stayed. That equates to adding, in less than two years, a city the size of Golden.

Amid the crisis, Johnston assumed the role of the de facto spokesperson for the interior cities affected by the surge in border crossings, as he appeared on national TV and visited the nation’s capital to press their case.

In pushing for federal action, Johnston repeatedly pleaded for Congress and the White House to provide additional funding for cities grappling with the crisis, work authorization and a “coordinated entry program.”

While sidestepping whether Denver is a “sanctuary” city, Johnston acknowledged Wednesday the necessity for border security.

“America,” Johnston said, “is not just a place. It’s a belief.”