DENVER — Overwhelmed by the recent surge of migrants, Denver reached out to the governor to ask for support from the Colorado National Guard, a spokesperson for the city told 9NEWS.
The ask was made last week. Colorado denied the request, a state spokesperson said, because there is no mechanism to call in the National Guard without a declared state of emergency.
Gov. Jared Polis (D) instead sent 40 civilian staff members to help process new migrant arrivals, a spokesperson for the state said. They added Polis is not considering a state of emergency at this time.
The recent surge of migrants arriving to Denver is unlike anything the city has seen since it began tracking arrivals from the southern border last December.
Denver announced Monday that it's altering its length-of-stay policies in its migrant shelters in response to a significant increase in new arrivals from the southern border.
According to a release, adult migrant guests without children will be accommodated in shelter facilities for 14 days rather than 21, while migrant families with children will be allowed to stay for 37 days instead of 30. The change, which takes effect Wednesday, will not impact people who arrived prior to that date.
To date, Denver has served more than 21,000 migrants at a cost of $26 million. According to the release, over the past week, the daily average of new arrivals is nearly 300, with the total migrant shelter population now at 2,500 and nine buses from Texas arriving in Denver on Sunday alone.
These numbers are up sharply from even mid-September, when the daily average of newcomers to Denver was 125 and the shelter population was 1,200, the release says. This influx – the third, following the initial wave in December and a second surge in May – is affecting shelter capacity and straining staffing availability.
According to the release, Denver is primarily responsible for providing temporary, emergency shelter. With the arrival of cold weather on the horizon, the city is calling on communities around the state to support the sheltering effort, and on nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and individuals to aid in the response by volunteering, joining the effort as a contract worker, and donating needed items such as clothing.
Cities or towns interested in providing temporary shelter for newly arriving migrants are asked to contact Adam Paul, director of regional affairs for the Mayor’s Office, at adam.paul@denvergov.org.
Donations can be delivered to the Richard T. Castro Human Services Center at 1200 N. Federal Blvd. Winter items such as hats, scarves, socks and gloves are especially needed.
Last week, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston spoke about the city's efforts to address the recent influx of migrants.
"We have had a significant influx of migrants mostly due to Gov. Abbott in Texas who has been chartering buses full of buses to arrive in the city and county of Denver," Johnston said.
A recent development that Johnston said he believes will help is the Biden administration's approval of Temporary Protective Status for Venezuelan immigrants, which gives asylum seekers a pathway to employment.
"We have people who want to work," he said. "I also get calls from employers around the city who want the hire the people who have arrived, and we had the federal government getting in the way."
On Sept. 15, the City of Denver issued a Request for Proposal to contract out five types of services: program management, running the reception center, shelter operations, transportation and donation management.
Johnston also said the city is working with migrants to send them to their preferred destinations in appropriate situations.
"We still continue to see, particularly in what I would call these involuntary arrivals, which are folks that have been put on a bus by Gov. Abbott and sent to us, many of those folks had no plans on coming to Denver," he said. "For many of these folks, we're helping either connect them to family or services where they wanted to arrive … and for folks that do want to stay, we're getting them connected to work options."
Individuals who wish to donate can find information on how to do so at Denvergov.org/MigrantSupport.
To schedule a donation drop off, people need to call (303) 514-0643. Important donation instructions can be found at Denvergov.org/MigrantSupport.
The Newcomers Fund also continues to accept monetary donations from the public, and donations go directly to the city’s nonprofit partners.
This story includes previous reporting by Wilson Beese.
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