Denver becoming overwhelmed after 40,000 spike in migrant population

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Denver mayor calls on Congress, Biden admin to address migrant crisis

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the immigration crisis' impact on his city and his proposed solutions, including expedited processing, allowing work authorizations and a coordinated entry system.

Denver, Colorado's capital with over 700,000 residents, has become the latest city inundated with over 40,000 migrants as a result of the ongoing border crisis.

The sanctuary city has been struggling to stretch its limited resources to support the growing number of migrants in the city. Texas has transported thousands of migrants to sanctuary cities like Denver, to showcase the problems border states face when migrants flood their cities. 

With overcrowded shelters and overrun hospitals, Denver state officials have begun enforcing a limit on the amount of time that migrants can stay in state-provided rooms to accommodate the daily influx of individuals, according to a report from NBC News. 

DENVER BUSINESS OWNER FUMING AFTER GRANT REQUEST TO MITIGATE HOMELESS CAMP COSTS IS REJECTED

People camp as they wait to cross the border between Mexico and the United States in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on December 27, 2023. (Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Dr. Steven Federico, a pediatrician and chief of government and community affairs at Denver Health, told NBC News the hospital reached out to state and federal government agencies for assistance. 

"I think it’s been an unheeded call so far in terms of who’s going to be responsible for the health care of this population," Federico said. "In the meantime, it falls on safety net hospitals like Denver Health."

The city’s medical institutions are draining staff and supplies on patients who can’t pay for their services, all while the city exhausts its other resources to combat the housing crisis for its new occupants. Consequently, this has created a rise in ‘tent cities’ throughout Denver.

"[There were] 200 plus tents around our business," Samantha Menendez, co-owner of "One Shot Back" bar in Denver stated in an interview on Fox & Friends.

"There's people right across the street that couldn't even get to our door, so decline was pretty quick. The first three months, it was fine. After that, it was pretty aggressive for the decline of business," Menendez continued.

DENVER MAYOR PLEADS FOR NATIONALLY COORDINATED EFFORT ON MIGRANT CRISIS AS CITY NEARS 'BREAKING POINT'

 Homeless encampment on Logan st. between 17th Ave. and 18th Ave. in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, August 23, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston predicts the city will have to use 10% of its budget to aid the increased stream of migrants. He also estimated that Denver will need an additional $100 million in order to accommodate the population overflow migrating north from Texas to keep the city’s housing, schools, hospitals afloat.

In an interview on America’s Newsroom, Johnston spoke about what he believes would provide a potential solution, saying, "When folks arrive in our city, we want them [to have] the ability to work. If they have work authorization when they arrive, they can get to work and support themselves immediately, [they] don't need federal or state support."

A spokesperson for Johnston's office released a statement that said the city is "straining" with the continued influx of migrants. 

"Denver paused the discharge of migrant families on Nov. 17, 2023 and also welcomed families who had previously timed out to return to shelter. However, over the past two months, Denver has seen a dramatic uptick in arrivals and is currently sheltering 4,000 people. This influx - the fourth significant surge in arrivals since late 2022 - is straining capacity and based on current projections, could force the city to cut as much as $180 million from its annual budget," the statement said. 

"While we recognize families need as much time as we can give them, we must once again limit the amount of time families can remain in shelter, beginning on Feb. 5. However, the city will increase the length-of-stay for families with children, providing all newly arriving families with up to six weeks (42 days) in shelter, up from the previous limit of 37 days," it continued.

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Denver passed laws to become a sanctuary city, but it doesn't include a right-to-shelter provision, which means there is no official policy that compels the local government to provide shelter indefinitely.