Denver Mayor Says He Wasn’t Aware of the Issue of an Illegal Released by Police Instead of Having ICE Pick Him Up at the Station

EXCERPT:

JOHNSTON: "Yeah, I mean, we‘ve had an established policy to do this. We‘ve done it 1226 times and never had an issue. What happens is, if we have someone in our custody that ICE wants access to, they ask for notification, we notify when they‘ll be released and where. We are different than some of the other cities today in that we do actually notify ICE so they can pick them up. This is the first time I‘ve ever been aware there‘s been an incident. There were six ICE officers there. The individual was unarmed. We walked him right out into a secure location. That‘s a parking lot that‘s fenced, where he can be detained. And so, again, it‘s worked safely before. I‘ve reached out to ICE. We‘re going to meet with them next week. If there are procedures we can adjust to make it safer, we‘re open to that. But this has been a procedure that‘s worked for a long, long time. We‘ve never had an issue until this week."