Colorado County Threatens to Fine, Seize Buses Transporting Illegal Aliens

Douglas County, Colorado, Commissioner George Teal has had enough. “No more freeloading,” he said. He is ready to take direct action to push back against migrant buses coming to the state. 

He’s putting bus companies on notice that if they stop or drop off illegal aliens in their community, they face fines up to $1,000 per passenger, and buses may be seized by local law enforcement. If the bus is coming from Texas under the order of Governor Abbott, that bus would probably have 45-50 passengers. I don’t know how many are on buses sent by DHS. 

The county passed an ordinance spelling out the consequences if migrant buses came to Douglas County. Teal said that there will be “no more freeloading.” He said the county commissioners thought the ordinance was required to make sure that the county is kept safe. 

The ordinance states that dropping off “commercial passengers” in “unplanned locations” in Douglas County may result in issuing a potential fine, and seizing the bus may be a course of action. Think of it as the county being proactive.

Even though officials have acknowledged that they aren’t aware of any migrants being dropped off in the county, elected leaders unanimously approved an ordinance barring drivers from unloading passengers in “unplanned locations.” The rule applies to large swaths of the county south of Denver, including heavily populated Highlands Ranch.

Douglas officials framed the proposed policy as safeguarding the “community’s overall well-being.” The draft text of the proposed law states that any “unplanned” onboarding of passengers “creates a dangerous situation for the unloaded commercial passengers, and is detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the community.”

So, the bus companies are on notice – don’t go there and drop off illegal aliens. Commissioner Teal said the community, largely Republican, is not a sanctuary city. The new ordinance reflects that. 

The county doesn’t have the problem but officials are concerned that migrant buses going to Denver may go to Douglas County if there is no room in Denver. Communities around Denver are trying to separate themselves from the city and its sanctuary city policies. 

“Denver got on the bandwagon of the anti-Trump fad of declaring a sanctuary city early, among Democrat cities across the nation,” Teal said. “We’re not a Democrat county. We’re a community that is mostly Republican. We were never going to be a sanctuary county.”

Local officials in Monument went so far as to take a formal vote to affirm the town’s status as a “non-sanctuary city” as fears grow about the possibility of migrants leaving Denver for nearby communities.

Sanctuary city policies have been complete failures during Biden’s border crisis. The cities that jumped on the bandwagon to virtue-signal other cities likely had no idea that when Joe Biden threw open the southern border, millions of border jumpers would flood border states. It was only a matter of time before Governor Abbott and others began to send illegal aliens elsewhere. You know, the cities where they are welcome. Sanctuary cities wanted them until illegal aliens began to show up. Now it’s a big ole problem. 

Who can blame nearby counties for trying to head off a problem that is easy to predict will come their way?