Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) issued a rather stern warning to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D), suggesting that any effort to deny the new administration's mass deportation efforts could result in his removal from office.
Johnston last week delivered one of the more stark declarations of insurrection we've seen regarding President-elect Donald Trump's plans to remove criminal illegal aliens from the United States.
In fact, he declared he would instruct Denver law enforcement to defend illegals in the city and compared such a move to Tiananmen Square.
"More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there," Johnston told the Denverite in an interview. "It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?
As our colleague Bonchie notes, the Mayor's comments are not only "patently insane" but an effort to organize an insurrection.
"If Johnston does anything to stand in the way of federal officials enforcing immigration law, including using local law enforcement to obstruct, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible," Bonchie writes. "It is illegal to harbor illegal aliens under federal law, and the Department of Justice will have every right to take action."
Senator Paul concurs with the insurrection label and suggests that the Supreme Court would squash any such effort by Johnston. He further speculates on whether someone like Johnston might face criminal prosecution and predicts he'd likely be removed from office.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says that the mayor of Denver will be removed from office if he resists federal law enforcement officials who are deporting illegal aliens: "It's a form of insurrection" pic.twitter.com/P9e4fVxVxu
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 24, 2024
Paul, who is being tapped to chair the Senate Homeland Security Committee when Republicans regain control of that chamber, said the Democrat mayor's proposal is a “form of insurrection."
“The mayor of Denver, if he’s going to resist federal law, which is a long-standing history of the supremacy of federal law, if he’s going to resist that, it will go all the way to the Supreme Court,” he continued.
“I would suspect that he would be removed from office. I don’t know whether or not there’d be a criminal prosecution for someone resisting federal law, but he will lose," Paul warned. "People need to realize that what he is offering is a form of insurrection where the states resist the federal government.”
Johnston seems unaware that the Constitution has a Supremacy Clause, which states that federal law is essentially the law of the land.
Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
Immigration regulation is an area where the federal government has clear constitutional authority. Johnston, a local mayor, has no authority to oppose upholding the federal laws of a sovereign nation.
“Most people objected to that (states resisting federal law) and rejected that long ago," added Paul. "So think the mayor of Denver is on the wrong side of history, and really, I think, will face legal ramifications if he doesn’t obey the federal law."
Johnston, perhaps being informed of his tenuous legal footing on the matter, later backtracked on the comments.
"Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn't have used that image," Johnston told 9News. "That's the image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country. I think none of us want that."