As the number of Venezuelan migrants living in Denver hotels and camping on sidewalks rises by the day, Colorado’s two senators and five Democratic U.S. representatives are demanding the federal government pay for more emergency shelter.
In a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Democrats said communities coping with an increase in the number of migrants who need housing and food should have access to the agency’s Shelter and Services Program, which pays to house migrants who are awaiting the outcome of immigration proceedings.
Denver has been hardest hit by the yearlong migrant crisis among cities across the nation, with Mayor Mike Johnston claiming his city has received more migrants per capita than any other. Nearly 36,000 migrants have arrived in Denver over the past year, many of them claiming asylum after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. In December alone, 144 buses dropped off migrants in Denver, at the pace of 100-200 people per day.
The city has already spent $34 million setting up emergency shelters, including renting rooms in seven hotels throughout Denver. The number of people in hotels surpassed 4,400 this week, the highest yet during the yearlong influx.
The number of people sheltered in hotels has doubled just since November, when the Denver Department of Human Services lifted the time limit for families. Single migrants can stay in the hotels for only 14 days, and many have moved into tents on city sidewalks.
An encampment outside the Quality Inn near the corner of Speer Boulevard and Zuni Street has grown so large, stretching multiple blocks and including hundreds of people, that the city plans this week to bus people to shelters and remove the tents, furniture and barbecue grills that have accumulated along the street.
Buses will begin shuttling people Wednesday to two congregate shelters — one in a city building and another at a church — that will have mats lined on the floor and shower trailers parked outside. The City Council, meanwhile, approved $330,000 to help pay people’s first months of rent, and city employees have been talking to people in the camp all week, warning that they must vacate and inviting them to apply for housing assistance.
The city has helped 300 people fill out rental applications, including 95 so far who’ve found apartments, said Jon Ewing, spokesman for Denver Human Services. For those who have a job, the city is paying their first month’s rent. People still looking for work could receive up to three months of rent, he said.
Migrants who are living on the street can stay in one of the two congregate shelters for up to 30 days. “This is not a sweep,” he said. “We are literally pulling them off the street and trying to get them into a site where they will be healthier, where they will be safer, where they can go take a shower.”
Denver is renewing offer of bus tickets to other cities
The city is also offering them bus tickets to other cities, since Denver is close to exhausting its hotel and apartment space, Ewing said.
“If it didn’t work out here, if it isn’t what you expected, if it’s a little colder than expected, we will be buying you a ticket,” he said. “We are leveling with everyone when we say we only have limited resources. We only have so much money. There are only so many affordable units in Denver. People are starting to understand.”
Other cities with a huge number of newcomers from South America include Chicago and New York, while some places have seen far fewer migrants.
Denver already has purchased thousands of one-way bus tickets to other cities, mainly New York and Chicago, at migrants’ request. Of the 36,000 migrants who’ve come to Denver in the past year, at least 9,000 were sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to the letter from Colorado Democrats in Congress. Buses from the Texas governor’s office have arrived without warning, often in the middle of the night and sometimes in front of the state Capitol.
The letter — signed by Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, and U.S. Reps. Jason Crow, Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Yadira Caraveo and Brittany Pettersen — said the migrant population is straining state and local government, as well as nonprofits that are trying to house and feed them.
“These partners are at the forefront of providing essential services to migrants and are in dire need of additional support,” said the letter, which was sent to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell just before Christmas and released to The Colorado Sun this week. “Buses bringing migrants into our state are now a daily occurrence, and we are seeing a growing trend of migrants initially arriving in Denver and then moving into other communities across Colorado.”
More than 80 migrants earlier this winter were sleeping outside in Carbondale, camped out in tents and inside vehicles parked under a bridge. Community leaders offered temporary shelter in a nonprofit meeting room and have since been searching for housing.
The Colorado leaders urged FEMA to increase funding to the Shelter and Services Program next fiscal year, beginning in July, and to extend eligibility in the program to more cities and nonprofit organizations. They also asked for funding for technical assistance, particularly for rural areas that have never before had to set up migrant services.
“Your prompt attention to this matter is not just a response to a pressing need; it is essential to ensuring thousands of new arrivals facing harsh and unpredictable conditions have shelter and support throughout winter,” the letter states.
The Democrats said they have not yet received a response from FEMA.
Mayor says migrants could cost $180 million next year
Mayor Johnston is also seeking more federal support, appearing the past few days on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He wants expanded and speedy work authorization permits so that Venezuelans can get jobs faster. Venezuelans are eligible for temporary protected status if they arrived before July 31, 2023, which is the federal government’s cutoff date.
“We have 4,500 migrants in shelter tonight in Denver. We are the single-largest recipient of migrants per capita of any city in America,” Johnston said Tuesday on “Meet the Press.” “And almost all of those folks who arrived now don’t have access to that temporary protected status so they don’t have a clear path to work authorization. That makes it harder and harder for us to help them. And every time I see folks they ask me the same thing, which is ‘How can I get a job?’”
The mayor also asked for more cooperation with other states, particularly Texas, as Denver reaches a “breaking point” and has filled up nearly every available hotel room. The migrant response will cost the city $160 million to $180 million in next fiscal year’s budget, which is almost 15% of the total budget.
“We are the shortest and cheapest bus ticket north of El Paso,” he said. “You come straight north on I-25 from El Paso, Denver is the first big city you hit.”
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The state government, which previously gave Denver $3.5 million, stepped in with an additional $5 million in late December. The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee approved the emergency supplemental funding, which will create grants for community groups helping migrants. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has promised $9 million.
As the city cleans up the encampment in northwestern Denver, migrants traveling with children will have priority in housing assistance.
“Everything is more difficult with a child and we don’t want to see children on the streets,” said Ewing, with Denver Human Services. “You don’t want a family in a congregate shelter. The idea and the goal is to get everyone into a better situation.”