Denver Slashing DMV And Other City Services To Cover Shelter For Thousands Of Migrants

Topline

The city of Denver is planning to close DMVs, slash recreation center hours and cut back on park services as part of a plan to save $5 million this year that can then be funneled toward the growing migrant crisis in which tens of thousands of people have flowed into the sanctuary city over the last year.

denver slashing dmv and other city services to cover shelter for thousands of migrants

Venezulean migrants wait in a line to get paper work to be admitted to shelters at a migrant processing center on May 9, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. Hundreds of the migrants, primarily from Venezuela, were processed by the city of Denver and directed to shelters and resources as surges of migrants continue to arrive in the US seeking asylum. Denver Post via Getty Images

Key Facts

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Friday morning announced budget cuts that include rotating weeklong closures of Denver Motor Vehicle offices, a reduction in park services and reduced recreation center hours to help pay to shelter thousands of migrants who have been sent north from Texas over the last year.

Johnston said the collapse of a border security deal in the U.S. House earlier this week made the cuts necessary, the Denver Post reported, and warned more difficult cuts may be coming down the pike as the city faces a potential $180 million budget shortfall in 2024.

Denver has received more than 38,000 people from the southern border in just over a year, the city said, after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott started offering free bus rides for migrants to Democratic-run cities in an effort to make “rest of America (to) understand what is going on” at the border.

Denver was paying to shelter more than 3,500 migrants in hotels, shelters and bridge housing when Johnston made the announcement Friday, the Post reported.

Johnston has said Republican lawmakers are not doing enough to support migrants or the cities in which they reside, the Post reported, and specifically blamed former President Donald Trump for his part in the border deal’s collapse.

Crucial Quote

“That bill did not fail because they couldn’t find a solution to solve the problem,” Johnston said in a video posted to social media. “The bill failed because they did find a solution… And that was the most threatening of all to Donald Trump. And he intervened with House Republican leadership to kill that bill just so this crisis would continue, just so he thinks he has a better chance of reelection.”

Big Number

$42 million. That’s how much the city of Denver spent on supporting migrants between December of 2022 and this Monday. The state of Colorado recently awarded the city $3.5 million in reimbursements and the Department of Homeland Security has approved the city for up to another $9 million.

Surprising Fact

Denver, with a population just over 700,000, is the city with the most newly arrived migrants per capita in the country, NBC News reported.

Key Background

Migrants starting arriving to Denver en masse in 2022, months after Abbott announced Texas would pay to transport migrants from its cities to those in other states. Within a year, almost 30,000 people, primarily from Venezuela, had arrived in Denver and tent villages sheltering entire families began popping up on Denver’s cold streets. Last month, Johnston warned that the city was reaching a “breaking point” and said there weren’t enough jobs or housing in the city to handle the volume. Denver has offered to pay for bus tickets to other cities for those who want them. The cities of New York and Chicago were also targeted by Abbott’s plan and have received tens of thousands of migrants since August of 2022. New York City Mayor Eric Adams last month filed a lawsuit against the 17 bus and transportation companies that contracted with Texas to send migrants to the city. The lawsuit seeks $708 million in damages, which is how much the city says it has spent to shelter its new arrivals.

Tangent

In November, cuts in New York City hit a planned expansion of universal pre-K, froze police hirings and impacted trash pickup and library services. The impact to services came as every agency in the city was forced to cut its budget by 5%. While Adams warned of increasing belt tightening in 2024, many of those cuts were reversed early this year.

Further Reading

The Denver PostDenver recreation centers, DMV offices are first to cut back hours to help pay for migrant crisisNBC NewsA city of 710,000 struggles to cope with 40,000 migrant arrivalsThe Texas TribuneNew York City sues bus companies that Texas hired to transport migrantsMORE FROM FORBESBiden Blames Trump For Senate Border Bill’s Collapse As GOP Support Evaporates: ‘They’re Afraid Of Donald Trump’By Sara Dorn

denver slashing dmv and other city services to cover shelter for thousands of migrants

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