Denver Suburb Wants To Sue City For Welcoming Thousands Of Immigrants

The town council of Castle Rock outside of Denver has voted unanimously to explore legal action against the city for welcoming more than 42,000 immigrants since December 2022.

Castle Rock Town Councilmember Max Brooks introduced a motion during a September 3 meeting that would direct the town’s attorney to research legal recourse against Denver over a flood of migrants that have entered the city and spread out to surrounding suburbs. Other municipalities are considering joining Castle Rock in fighting Denver’s immigration policies, according to Brooks.

“This isn’t just a decision that Denver gets to make because it’s impacting the rest of the Front Range. So the idea is to join with other municipalities and say it’s time to stop,” Brooks told CBS News Colorado. “Our town attorney’s office has already had conversations with the county attorney with Douglas County, already had conversations with the city of Aurora, and also had conversations with the city of Parker.”

Officials from Denver’s surrounding areas have complained about migrants, and sometimes dangerous gang members, spreading out of the city. Officials in Aurora have said that members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan-based gang, are wreaking havoc on local communities.

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“We currently have entire complexes under gang control — complexes where staff have been beaten up, they’ve been threatened, their families have been threatened [and] complexes where there are no staff left on the property,” Aurora City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky said last month. “These complexes are being run by this Tren de Aragua gang.”

“They start brokering apartments themselves when someone leaves out of fear or whatever. They go in and take pictures of the apartment themselves. Then, I’ve been told, within hours, a Venezuelan family moves in,” Jurinsky said.

Denver has offered immigrants a raft of benefits, including six months of paid housing and a bus ticket to elsewhere in the state or country. The city has planned to spend an estimated $90 million on services for newly arrived migrants who claim to be seeking asylum in the United States.

Castle Rock’s move toward legal action is about changing Denver’s approach to immigration, not about extracting compensation, according to Brooks.

“I don’t want a dime from Denver, I just don’t want them to continue to have a policy that is having a negative impact on the Front Range,” Brooks said.

“You don’t wait until the hurricane is on you to board up your windows and leave town. We understand that there is a storm coming,” he added.