Luis Torres, PhD
Posted Dec. 5, 2024
The Denver Post on Sunday, December 1, published a disappointingly imprecise and superficial negative article about Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s recent rebuffing of Donald Trump’s plans for massive immigrant deportations. The article’s title was shockingly inaccurate—“Denver’s mayor was wrong to threaten armed conflict to protect immigrants.” Nowhere in the article is there any mention, or even an inkling, of “armed conflict” from Mayor Johnston, the title apparently an attempt to draw readers to the editorial for breathtaking drama.
The editorial refers several times to the term “Dreamers,” equating it as a synonym for “immigrant.” The term was originally an acronym for the words “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, “or D.R.E.A.M. Act, introduced in the Congress in 2001 and following, but never approved. It became the DREAM act and then DREAMers, and now “Dreamers” in the Denver Post. The editorial refers to “America’s Dreamers—people who were brought illegally to America as children.”
The second editorial error is to refer to these children as having been “brought illegally” to the U.S., an inaccuracy with the correction embedded in the statement itself, since children—they are brought here at an average age of seven—cannot commit a crime, according to American legal jurisprudence. Not until they are at least ten, does the American justice system even begin to consider them as potentially transgressing the law, but the legal system for children between ten and fifteen is more concerned with protecting the youth, rather than accusing them of anything “illegal.” That is why we have a juvenile justice system. These children, brought here at such young ages, cannot be considered “illegal” simply for existing.
The editorial refers in passing to young immigrants “with Temporary Protected Status [TPS, and] Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” or DACA, and states they are “at risk of Trump stripping them of their legal status.” Yes, that is correct, and these youth are most likely at the forefront of Mayor Johnston’s mind in his urgency. Whether or not he knew it, he was speaking on behalf of the position of approximately 75% of U.S. adults. The DACA recipients, when the program was still accepting applications before July of 2021, were favored by a large percent of the U.S. population. According to the well-regarded Pew Research Center, which focuses on the Latino community,
“Americans-broadly-support-legal-status-for-immigrants-brought-to-the-u-s-illegally-as-children” –the lengthy title of an article (74% favor legal status for those brought to US illegally as children as Supreme Court weighs DACA | Pew Research Center). That was back in 2020, but there isn’t likely to be a similar study anymore because DACA has been overturned for any new applicants since July of 2021 (currently under additional court review). The percentage is in favor of “legal status,” a measure even beyond TPS and DACA. That 74% disaggregated includes 54% of Republicans, 91% of Democrats, with 69% of Whites, 82% of Blacks, and 88% Hispanics.
Mayor Johnston has been criticized for his reference to China’s Tiananmen Square protests, from April 15—June 4, 1989. Tiananmen Square is an extremely large public square in Beijing; “Tiananmen” means “gate of heavenly peace.” Ironically, considering the extreme criticism Mayor Johnston has received about such a statement, the Chinese protesters in the square, mostly university students, were seeking more personal and political freedoms, which Mayor Johnston was no doubt referring to despite the erroneous “armed conflict” tag to which The Denver Post title alludes. The United States media and political leaders were very much in support, at the time, of the protesters; PBS for example noted, “The spring of 1989 saw the largest pro-democracy demonstration in the history of China’s communist regime,” with “tens of thousands” of university students gathering in the square, joined later by exponential increases of protest supporters (Timeline: What Led to the Tiananmen Square Massacre | FRONTLINE). The “armed conflict,” in the apparent view of the Denver Post’s editorial, suggests the ensuing violence to end the protests was caused by the protesters. However, the conflict was escalated by the military troops under the command of the Communist government, not the protesters, with perhaps as many as 2,600 protesters killed, and perhaps 7,000 wounded, finally overwhelming and repressing the protesters. The photo of one man, carrying groceries and standing in defiance of four massive military tanks, stopping them in their tracks, is the iconic image of the protests.
In Denver, Mayor Johnston was clearly equating the Tiananmen protesters’ desires for democracy and personal freedom with the immigrants now living in Denver, as they are wishing likewise for democracy, having escaped from countries suppressing such democratic freedoms. How quickly Donald Trump’s advisors—soon to be operatives—and The Denver Post have inverted the reality of such lessons from Tiananmen.
Referring to Mayor Mike Johnston, Donald Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan has said, “We are going to follow the law” regarding immigration. Well, I hope so, but we shall see, once the Trump administration rolls out its treatment of immigrants, who in age run the gamut from infants to students to elders. It is clear that Denver Mayor Johnston is in fact following the law, including and especially the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The first section (of five) of the 14th Amendment reads as follows:
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (emphasis added). (U.S. Constitution – Fourteenth Amendment | Resources | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Too many people who engage in arguments over immigration stop reading the Amendment after the first sentence and the following independent clause. I am certain Mayor Johnston has actually read the entire Section 1, which twice identifies “persons,” such as, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The 14th Amendment is one of the most significant features of the Constitution; it helped make the U.S. what it is today, a beacon for so many others from so many countries.
Too many people who engage in arguments over immigration stop reading the Amendment after the first sentence.
Mayor Johnston might well be suffering today from so many slings and arrows from politicians and newspapers, such as The Denver Post, precisely because he wants to ensure that Denver, an island among so much negativity, does not “deprive any person” without due process, or “deny to any person” equal protection of the laws. Immigrants, like anyone else, must go through that process, equally, attitudes against them notwithstanding; they must also abide by the outcome of that process.
I encourage Mayor Mike Johnston to continue supporting the rights and freedoms of every “person” in the City and County of Denver. I am certain that in following the law, Mayor Johnston will also ensure they abide by the responsibility that comes with following those laws. The myriad issues applying to immigration cannot suppress the obligation the Mayor and we have to each individual person.
Luis Torres, Ph.D., retired, served as Deputy Provost for Metropolitan State University of Denver for Academic and Student Affairs and professor of Chicana/o Studies. Torres is a noted advocate for equity in education, policy and community efforts.
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