Fact check: Denver's mayor testifies on Capitol Hill
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The U.S. House oversight committee and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston clashed at a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
State of play: We fact-checked three salient statements from the hearing.
Statement 1: "Migrants did not bring a wave of crime to Denver. In fact, crime went down. Homicides dropped 17%, shooting victims dropped 24%, auto theft down 29%."
Context: Johnston made this statement in his opening remarks. He contrasted figures from 2023 and 2024, two years in which the city saw large numbers of immigrants arrive from the U.S. southern border.
Here's what Denver crime statistics reported to the FBI show:
- Homicides, robberies, burglaries and auto thefts are down as of 2023 — the latest full year available — from recent highs in 2020 and 2021.
- Aggravated assaults are rising from 2021 rates.
Reality check: In 2024, Denver Police reported an 11% drop in murders from 2023, an Axios analysis found, a decline for the third straight year.
- The number is different from the one Johnston cited for homicides, which covers a broader category of deaths.
Statement 2: In Denver, immigrants were put up "at a luxury hotel."
Context: U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) made this assertion in pressing Johnston on how immigrants were treated when they arrived in Denver.
- Denver spent about $140 million leasing and buying hotels to house immigrants and homeless people, according to Westword. Much of the money came from federal pandemic relief money.
- For immigrants, the city typically rented rooms on a temporary basis.
Reality check: The high price tag does not suggest these are luxury hotels. The hotels and rooms rented or purchased were often distressed properties or brands that typically have two-star or lower ratings on a five-star scale.
Statement 3: "For our crime rate, [Colorado] ranked third [highest] in the nation last year."
Context: U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Thornton) made this remark as he prepared to question Johnston.
Reality check: Evans is referring to a 2024 analysis from U.S. News and World Report, which put the state's violent crime rate at 492 per 100,000 people. Colorado ranked 47th in the nation for public safety.
- However, the statement lacks context. The ranking is based on more than just the number of violent and property crimes committed. It also includes incarceration rates for adults and juveniles and racial disparities in prison.
- Moreover, the ranking uses 2022 data, and the state's crime rate has decreased in most categories since then.