Denver has become the latest Democrat-run city so overwhelmed by the surge in immigrants that it has run out of “sanctuary space” – forcing city officials to start kicking out thousands to accommodate the newer arrivals.
“We have filled every hotel room we have in the city and county of Denver,” Mayor Mike Johnston said at a town hall meeting last week.
“Now, we have the terrible decision that if we don’t start leaving people, we will have 250 people who will arrive today or the day after tomorrow, who have nowhere to go at night.”
The city had delayed evictions of migrants in November due to concerns about cold weather, but ended the pause on Monday – allowing the city to evict migrants from shelters if they had been in temporary housing for more than six weeks.
On that day, about 140 immigrant families were removed from their accommodations, with 660 families in the coming weeks, possibly meaning more than 3,000 individuals, Newsweek said.
For the next two months, about 50 to 60 families will be forced out every day.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has ended the city’s pause in deportations because “we’re running out of shelter space.” Getty Images
“Our city workers have done a heroic job helping newcomers get on their feet and start building lives in Denver, but we’re running out of shelter space,” the mayor’s press secretary, Jordan Fuja, told the outlet.
“We’re out of staff and we’re facing a budget deficit of up to $180 million to cover protection costs.”
Still, city officials expect the total number of immigrants living in shelters to remain the same — between 4,000 and 5,000 — as more come in, according to 9 News.
The city is already drawing money from a contingency reserve to help subsidize immigrant-related costs, said Laura Swartz, spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Finance.
But that will probably only cover costs until April — and Johnston estimates the city will need $100 million over the course of the year to pay for housing, schooling, health care and other services amid the surge in immigrants.
Every day for the next two months, about 50 to 60 migrant families will be forced out of their shelters or hotels. Denver Post via Getty Images
“We don’t want to take police officers off the street,” Johnston told CNN. “We don’t want to take firefighters off the streets. We don’t want to not pick up trash or not open our parks and recreation centers.”
But, he warned, the city will have to find money somewhere in the budget if the immigrant crisis continues.
Over the past year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent 157,000 immigrants to the city.
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There, about 8,000 immigrants logged 20,000 visits to Denver Health — receiving services such as emergency room treatment, primary care, dental care and childbirth — without being able to pay, according to Fox News.
The visit contributed to the hospital system being in the red by about $22 million.
It is asking for more money from the state and federal governments to help cover $10 million in unpaid bills, NBC News reported.
At the same time, nearly 3,000 migrant children – mainly from Venezuela – have joined the Denver public school system since July, according to Adrienne Endres, who oversees multilingual education.
“Denver is facing a humanitarian and fiscal crisis with the influx of arrivals to our city and limited resources,” Fuja said.
In an effort to find a solution, Johnston recently traveled to DC, joined by US Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) to ask for more federal aid, and to speed up work authorization for immigrants. .
Over the past year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent 157,000 immigrants to Denver, and about 3,000 migrant children have joined the public school system since July. Denver Post via Getty Images
In the meantime, Ewing said, “We’re doing everything possible.”
The city is “working as hard as it can to make sure people are in better shape and not back on the streets,” according to Fuja.
He noted that the city buys bus tickets to send immigrant families to other American cities.
In January alone, the city bought more than 2,000 bus tickets, sending families to other destinations in the US — with most going to New York or Chicago.
Denver also operates seven migrant shelters for newcomers and works with the Archdiocese of Denver to provide bridge housing.
It operates two shelters for immigrants who have previously experienced homelessness.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
