For more than a year, Denver officials and nonprofit leaders have struggled to aid the thousands of people who have arrived in the city fleeing violence, economic instability and hopelessness in their home countries. More than 24,900 migrants have accessed services in Denver since Jan. 1, according to city data.
The number of migrants living in hotels and shelters provided by Denver skyrocketed in the past month, though it’s been going down. Officials have attributed the rise to more people arriving at the country’s southern border, primarily from Venezuela, as well as leaders in border towns like El Paso, Texas, and the Texas governor chartering more buses to send people to Colorado.
The number of migrants staying in Denver shelters as of Friday was at the lowest it’s been since Oct. 3 — 2,668. On Tuesday, that number was 3,040, and the record high of 3,136 was recorded earlier this month. Denver Human Services spokesperson Jon Ewing said that figure could continue to go down with the city’s latest length-of-stay shelter policies: adults without children can stay in a shelter for 14 days and families with children can stay for 30.
“When we passed 1,200 people a few weeks ago, we thought that was extraordinary,” Ewing had said earlier this month.
The number of daily arrivals has decreased in the past few days; 35 migrants had arrived by 2 p.m. Friday, according to city data. But Ewing said it would be premature to declare that trend will continue. Plus, people continue to arrive on buses daily at all hours, so the numbers could go up significantly. On Thursday, 149 migrants arrived in Denver.
As of Monday, the city had spent more than $28 million on migrant sheltering efforts, and had received $3.5 million in reimbursement from the state and another $909,000 from the federal government, with an additional $8.6 million expected.
Denver is working to hire contractors to take the lead on sheltering efforts and migrant services, but officials have repeatedly said the costs are too great for individual cities, and the federal government needs to provide more resources.
A majority of the migrants arriving in Denver don’t plan to stay permanently, according to local leaders, but many stay in shelters temporarily or need assistance getting to their next location. Still, the city has committed to helping those who come to Denver.
But that’s not the position every local government has decided to take. Although Douglas County doesn’t border Denver, its Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution on Oct. 12 to send a message that “Douglas County is not a sheltering solution to Denver’s migrant population crisis,” and that the county was not a so-called sanctuary city that would protect migrants from federal immigration policy.
It also “calls on the Board of Health to examine the impacts of recent immigration to Denver and issue proactive and responsive Public Health Orders regarding the same,” the resolution stated.
This comes following an apology that Denver officials issued to Adams County for giving the county short notice that it was opening a shelter in Adams County, as first reported by Denver7.
Denver officials earlier this month sent fliers — in Spanish and English — to El Paso, Texas, to hand out to migrants warning them of expensive housing costs in the Mile High City and the lack of affordable housing.
“Denver’s resources have been exhausted,” the flier states. “If you are coming to Denver seeking shelter, it is important for you to have a plan. The city cannot provide shelter long term.”
The flier gives migrants the same information that Denver staff give people arriving at the city’s processing center, Ewing said. There is a lot of inaccurate information about the city’s services passed along via social media and WhatsApp, he said.
“We don’t really know what’s out there at any time, so we’re just trying to correct the record,” he said.
Denver’s leaders modeled the fliers on similar pamphlets distributed by New York City officials warning people that work in the country’s largest city was hard to find and suggested seeking a more affordable city.
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