{"id":36442,"date":"2023-01-05T17:14:20","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T00:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-says-his-plan-to-bus-migrants-out-of-denver-is-night-and-day-compared-with-gop-governors\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:31:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:31:38","slug":"polis-says-his-plan-to-bus-migrants-out-of-denver-is-night-and-day-compared-with-gop-governors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-says-his-plan-to-bus-migrants-out-of-denver-is-night-and-day-compared-with-gop-governors\/","title":{"rendered":"Polis says his plan to bus migrants out of Denver is \u2018night and day\u2019 compared with GOP governors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis makes a point during a news conference Nov. 1 at the governor's mansion in Denver. (David Zalubowski\/The Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A surge of migrants arriving in Denver throughout the past month has not only pushed city resources to the brink but catapulted Gov. Jared Polis into an ugly political battle that has governors and mayors pointing fingers about who should take responsibility for immigrants crossing the southern border.<\/p>\n

Since the migrants began arriving by the busload last month, Denver outreach workers have been buying tickets for those trying to reach family or friends in other states, one person at a time.<\/p>\n

But Polis\u2019 announcement this week that the state would take over those operations, using charter buses to send migrants to cities including New York City and Chicago, set off a national furor. New York Mayor Eric Adams, a fellow Democrat, criticized the move and headlines proclaimed that now even a Democrat was pawning off unwanted migrants.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s policy is nothing like that of GOP governors, Polis said Wednesday in an interview with The Sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really night and day,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always frustrating when you get caught up in a national sensational narrative. I understand this is a national issue and the federal government needs to act, but I think what we very thoughtfully asked ourselves in Colorado is how can we help folks who have been through a long journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis, who visited migrants in Denver on Christmas Day, said almost everyone he met was from Venezuela, an \u201coppressive, socialist regime,\u201d and that many had been traveling three or four months already, trying to get to friends or relatives in specific cities.<\/p>\n

Colorado is not forcing people to leave and extended invitations to everyone to stay, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously entirely different than any governor that is sending people to places they don\u2019t want to go to get them out of their area,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are respecting the agency and the desires of migrants who are passing through Colorado. We want to help them reach their final destination, wherever that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city from the start was trying to help migrants get to their destination, but a crippling snowstorm in the eastern half of the country and the meltdown of Southwest Airlines caused a backlog, the governor said. Those hoping to reach California got out of Denver, but people struggled to head east.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody was scrambling to get every single available bus seat to get where they were going,\u201d Polis said.<\/p>\n

So Polis pledged $5 million in funds from the state to help with the migrant situation, including sending people on chartered buses to various cities across the country. More than 100 migrants left on buses to other states Tuesday, travel arranged and funded by Colorado.<\/p>\n

Since Dec. 9, more than 3,600 migrants have arrived in Denver after crossing into the United States at the southern border, most of them from Central and South America. The unprecedented influx has severely stretched city resources, already costing Denver more than $1.4 million.<\/p>\n

The city so far is seeking $2.5 million of the $5 million from the state, which Polis said will help provide a humane response for those arriving at the pace of more than 100 people per day. About 70% of the migrants who\u2019ve come to Denver in the past month are trying to reach other cities, the governor estimated. The state funding is coming from the Department of Local Affairs and the Department of Public Safety, state officials said.<\/p>\n

\"This
This image provided by WJLA shows migrant families as they get on a bus to transport them from near the Vice President's residence to an area church after they arrived in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. Local organizers in Washington say three buses of recent migrant families arrived from Texas near the home in record-setting cold on Christmas Eve. Texas authorities have not confirmed their involvement. (WJLA via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The funding will go toward intake, processing and transportation coordination to \u201chelp migrants reach their desired final destination.\u201d<\/p>\n

The migrant busing controversy has been ongoing for months. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, sent thousands of migrants to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York during the spring and summer. And on Christmas Eve, two buses dropped off about 100 migrants outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington. The White House blamed the Texas governor, who said he was fed up with federal immigration policy.<\/p>\n

In September, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, spent state funds to round up about 50 migrants in Texas and fly them to the island of Martha\u2019s Vineyard in Massachusetts, calling it a relocation program.<\/p>\n

The number of immigrants crossing the southern border has reached higher levels in recent weeks partly because a policy set during the Trump administration was set to expire in December. That border policy, called Title 42, allows the United States to quickly expel some migrants without allowing them to make an asylum claim. But the policy did not expire and instead was kept in place last week by the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

There is no indication that Texas or any other state sent the migrants to Colorado. Instead, migrants have organized rides on their own or through nonprofits along the border to travel to Colorado. Word that Denver has warm shelters lined with cots has spread via social media and word-of-mouth, city officials said.<\/p>\n

Polis requests quick federal response<\/div>\n

Polis said he wants swift action from Congress and the White House on border security and immigration policy. For one, he wants the 30% or so of recent migrants who want to make a home in Colorado to get work permits in short order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a worker shortage in our state,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have actually two job openings for every unemployed person. We would love to be able for them to be able to work, and they would love to be able to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The governor said he also is requesting federal financial assistance and better border security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to be helping integrate and absorb migrants, we should receive commensurate funding from the federal government,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so should other cities and states that are the final destinations of migrants from Venezuela and other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Migrants are not \u201cswayed\u201d or coerced to leave Colorado, he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not being sent. They\u2019ve been trying to get to another city that they want to get to for months. We don\u2019t want to trap them or imprison them in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than $1.4 million spent so far<\/div>\n

A line forms at Denver\u2019s emergency shelters for the breakfast, lunch and dinner that arrive each day, meals that are sometimes donated by nonprofits or restaurants, but mostly paid for by the city.<\/p>\n

The thousands of migrants who\u2019ve arrived in Denver in the past month wait their turn for locker room showers, and to speak in Spanish to outreach workers who can help them seek housing or travel to relatives in other cities.<\/p>\n

When the recreation center gyms became so crowded that cots would no longer fit, the city put mats on the floor. Families traveling together are put up in motel rooms, since an emergency shelter packed with cots and mats is no place for children.<\/p>\n

Within a couple of weeks, Denver has hired more than 100 workers and announced Wednesday that it is seeking 100 more. Teenagers who were checking rec center cards are now helping run three emergency shelters. Workers from every city department are pitching in, putting in extra hours to cover overnight shifts or temporarily transferring from their regular jobs to work in emergency operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single staff person in the city and county of Denver has been reached out to multiple times for help,\u201d said Jill Lis, who normally handles communications regarding special events like the Colorado Avalanche celebratory parade or city elections. Now, she\u2019s working every day of the week on a team that provides information in Spanish to migrants who have filled the city\u2019s emergency shelters or found warm beds at churches and other shelters.<\/p>\n

The city has spent $1.44 million so far, including on hotel rooms, cots, cot covers, blankets, food, staffing, cleaning supplies and toiletries.<\/p>\n

At this point, city leaders are basically begging for assistance. \u201cWe continue to call on the federal government, private businesses and area nonprofits to assist,\u201d the city said Wednesday in its daily email update on the situation. \u201cThe need for more widespread support from other organizations is greater than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The items most needed by migrants staying in the city\u2019s two 24\/7 shelters and one overnight shelter are backpacks and medium-sized duffel bags, as well as men\u2019s shoes, sneakers and boots. The city\u2019s website lists drop-off locations and hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are arriving without warm clothing and without a bag to put warm clothing in,\u201d Lis said. \u201cSome don\u2019t have closed-toed shoes to wear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city has outreach workers at Union Station downtown, so when buses of migrants arrive, they are directed to a reception center inside one of the city\u2019s recreation centers. Once there, they are assigned a cot at an overnight shelter or set up with a hotel room. They are also tested for COVID-19 and other communicable diseases, Lis said.<\/p>\n

As they check in, many people are explaining that they are trying to reach relatives in other states, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where we start to ask folks about whether they are trying to connect with a family member, whether that\u2019s in Denver or beyond,\u201d Lis said. \u201cThat effort has now been moved to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

City officials have allowed one media walk-through of a recreation center shelter in the last month. They are asking the media not to disclose the locations of the shelters in order to protect the privacy and safety of the migrants, who are at the center of a hot-button political controversy over border security.<\/p>\n

In the early days of the influx, most of the migrants were from Venezuela, a country in political turmoil. At this point, however, the migrants are coming from various countries in Central and South America, Lis said.<\/p>\n

And the tide has not let up: 167 migrants poured into the city in the prior 24 hours, according to the city\u2019s Wednesday update.<\/p>\n

About 1,000 of them are sleeping in the city\u2019s emergency shelters and more than 800 are in shelters set up by churches or other nonprofits.<\/p>\n

While the city is grateful that other organizations have stepped up to help, that, too, has created work for the city. City officials have to visit the shelter space to make sure it\u2019s a good fit, and the Denver Fire Department has to perform an inspection.<\/p>\n

The emergency response has been day to day, Lis said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very quick response. A lot of things we have been doing just to get through this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the buses are arriving at the same time\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Colorado immigrant advocates supported the governor\u2019s plan to help migrants travel to other cities.<\/p>\n

Laura Lunn, an attorney with the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, said the policy is humane. \u201cPut yourself in the place of someone who had to leave everything they know behind \u2026 and then arrive to a place where you don\u2019t fully understand what is going on,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople have been promised things that can\u2019t actually be delivered. They are confused and they need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The network, where Lunn is director of advocacy and litigation, helps migrants seek asylum so they can remain in the country, a process that can take months or years, depending on the individual circumstances. Lunn said she does not yet have clients who have arrived in the recent influx because their first priorities are housing and transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too soon for them to be worrying about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are welcoming asylum-seekers each and every day. This is an anomaly where all the buses are arriving at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Neuhausel, a pastor at Denver Community Church and leader of a church justice initiative called Project Renew, estimated that about half of immigrants the church has sheltered over the years are trying to get someplace else. In December, the church housed 56 migrants. Often, they have traveled for months by the time they reach Denver, up from El Paso, Texas, and through Albuquerque. They\u2019re exhausted from \u201chustling\u201d through the shelter system and just want help getting to their final destination, the pastor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a family or a friend who has a better situation for them,\u201d Neuhausel said. \u201cI have never had an experience of anyone at the state or Denver who is trying to pawn off a problem on somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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