Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has declared his willingness to defy federal law and face jail time to protect illegal immigrants—including those with criminal records—from President-elect Donald Trump’s promised deportation efforts.

Johnston, who is doubling down on his sanctuary city agenda, openly encouraged protests and even civil disobedience, framing his resistance as a moral crusade.

During a recent interview with Denverite, Johnston unveiled his audacious plan to transform Denver into what he called a “fortress of resistance” against federal immigration efforts.

His strategy includes mobilizing Denver police officers and thousands of residents to form human barricades to block federal authorities from carrying out deportations.

“More than us having [Denver Police] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston boasted, adding, “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?” You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”

The comments, particularly the invocation of Tiananmen Square—a violent crackdown by a communist regime—have been criticized as inflammatory and inappropriate.

Even Johnston himself has since attempted to walk back his remarks, admitting during a 9NEWS interview that he “wouldn’t have used that image” if given another chance. However, the underlying message of defiance remains clear.

“Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn’t have used that image. 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,” Johnston said.

When pressed by 9NEWS about the possibility of jail time for his actions, Johnston said, “I’m not afraid of that.”

9NEWS Reporter Marc Sallinger: Talk about civil disobedience. You’ve mentioned that a couple of times now. Would you be willing to participate in those as the mayor of Denver? Would you be willing to go out and protest these things?

Mike Johnston: If I believe that our residents are having their rights violated, if I think things are happening that are illegal or immoral or un-American in our city, I would certainly protest it, and I would expect other residents would do the same.

Marc Sallinger: Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, has said that he is willing to arrest leaders like yourself for standing in the way of these policies they want to enact. Would you be willing to go to jail for these things?

Mike Johnston: Yeah, I’m not afraid of that. I’m also not seeking that. I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people on how to solve hard problems. Republican and Democratic presidents in the past have all tried to find solutions to these problems. President Reagan helped people get access to work so they could stay and support themselves. Biden and Harris worked on restricting entry at the border to close it down. There are a lot of ways to approach this problem. We don’t think it has to come to this.