The D.C.-based law firm hired to represent the city and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston during his recent appearance before a Congressional hearing on “sanctuary” jurisdictions has submitted its first invoice.

The price tag? $250,000.

And that could be just the beginning.

City officials said the invoice is the only one the city has received to date following the March 5 inquiry by the U.S. House Committee on Government and Reform, so Denver doesn’t have a “final tally on the cost.”

“I do want to stress this was not just to prepare him (Johnston) for the hearing but also all of the documents and requests from the committee,” Jon Ewing, spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told The Denver Gazette. “And we didn’t ask to go to Congress.”

The invoice, dated May 8, 2025, did not break out charges by line item and just said “for professional services rendered in connection with the above-referenced matter through March 31.”

The “above-referenced matter” is titled “Congressional Investigation” on the invoice.

Johnston, along with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and New York Mayor Eric Adams, was summoned to appear before Congress to answer questions about “sanctuary” policies and their response to the illegal immigration crisis, which has been spilling from the southern U.S. border into America’s interior cities.

In February, Denver inked an agreement with the law firm Covington and Burling, LLP to represent the city in the upcoming congressional inquiry. Under the one-year contract with a maximum cap of $2 million, the city will pay lawyers a “discounted” rate of $1,000 per hour.

In Boston, the legal cost to Mayor Michelle Wu stood at $650,000. Wu defended the costs, saying they were necessary amid threats to jail her, according to The Boston Herald. 

Johnston, along with four staff members — Chief of Staff Jenn Ridder, Senior Advisor for Strategy and Planning Mary Bowman, Acting City Attorney Katie McLoughlin and Press Secretary Jordan Fuja — traveled to Washington, D.C. for the March 5 hearing.

Travel and lodging costs for the trip totaled $11,318, according to information received by The Denver Gazette through a Colorado Open Records Act request.

The five travelers’ airfare accounted for $2,717, the meals cost $1,380, and a majority of the trip’s overall tab — $7,221 — went to hotel expenses.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging that the “sanctuary policies” of Colorado and the City and County of Denver have interfered with federal immigration enforcement and violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Along with Johnston, the lawsuit named Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, the state legislature, the Denver City Council, the Denver Sheriff Department and Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins as defendants.

Johnston, in turn, called the Trump administration a “bully.”

“Denver will not be bullied or blackmailed, least of all by an administration that has little regard for the law and even less for the truth,” Johnston said in a statement referring to the lawsuit. “Denver follows all laws — local, state and federal — and stands ready to defend its values.”

Similar lawsuits have been filed against Chicago and Rochester, New York.

“We’re too early in the process to know the extent of what legal representation is necessary,” Ewing said when asked if the city plans to use the same outside legal counsel it retained for the congressional hearing. “We’re hopeful that our city attorneys can handle this matter in-house, while we stay focused on the issues Denverites care about, like public safety, downtown revitalization, affordable housing.”

Generally speaking, a “sanctuary city” refers to a jurisdiction that discourages or prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration officers, such as by barring employees from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

The Mile High City mayor has insisted that Denver is not a “sanctuary” city and that its policies reflect state law, which, among other things, prohibits law enforcement from detaining individuals based on immigration status alone.

Denver’s identity as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction is rooted in several policies approved over the last several years. Mayor Michael Hancock, for example, created a legal defense fund for immigrants.

In 2017, the Denver City Council passed the Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act, which limits the city’s involvement in immigration enforcement and the use of city funds and other resources for such. It also restricts the city’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), unless a federal judge issues a warrant.

Meanwhile, many consider Colorado as a sanctuary state because of laws limiting local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including prohibitions on honoring ICE detainer requests, unless agents present a warrant from a judge, something that lawmakers this year affirmed. Gov. Jared Polis has balked at such a characterization. 

Last week, Denver joined Chicago and Pima County in Arizona in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its termination of federal funding awarded to local jurisdictions to help defray the cost of aiding the tens of thousands of immigrants who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

Denver is seeking to secure $25 million that the city was awarded in reimbursements.

Denver, Chicago, and Pima County, which borders Mexico, asserted that the federal government’s actions are unconstitutional, arguing they are an attempt to override Congress’s constitutional authority to appropriate funds, according to a news release.

The Trump administration said the spending does not align with its priorities.

“The individuals receiving these services often have no legal status and are in the United States unlawfully, such as those awaiting removal proceedings. This, in turn, provides support for illegal aliens and is not consistent with DHS’s current priorities,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last month. 

Early in the illegal immigration crisis, Denver officials decided the city would assume the costs of aiding the immigrants, a move that threatened the city’s finances and prompted Johnston to implement department cuts and cost-saving measures.

In the last two years, more than 43,000 immigrants arrived in Denver after illegally crossing the southern border. While city officials have not tracked how many have stayed, bus, plane and train tickets suggested about half have. That roughly equates to adding a city the size of Golden to the Denver metro area in less than 18 months.

To date, the city’s response has cost about $90 million.