On Thursday, Mayor Michael Hancock (D) of Denver, Colorado, issued a state of emergency declaration over the arrival of about 900 illegal immigrants to his city.
“With hundreds of new migrants now in Denver, and several hundred arriving in just the past few days alone, the city’s efforts to shelter them is under severe pressure due to limited space and staffing,” a press release from the Mayor’s office stated.
“The emergency declaration is intended to help access additional emergency resources and provide the city greater flexibility to procure resources. The declaration will also allow the city to continue to request financial assistance from various funding sources,” it added.
According to the mayor’s office, more than 900 illegal immigrants have arrived in the City and County of Denver over the past few months, including more than 600 migrants since the start of this month.
“To date, the City and County of Denver has spent more than $800,000 on the migrant sheltering effort. This amount is expected to increase significantly,” the press release explained.
Numbers shared by Hancock’s office show that 404 migrants are currently housed in the city’s emergency shelters. Over 100 of these migrants are kept in church and nonprofit shelters. An additional 75 migrants arrived at homeless shelters overnight, and 247 more have arrived since Monday.
2/2 We continue to call on our faith-based an nonprofit partners for support in these efforts, and encourage anyone who would like to volunteer, donate or partner with the city to visit ⬇️ https://t.co/OZ3yAab9Y5
— Michael B. Hancock (@MayorHancock) December 15, 2022
“The declaration is another tool in the toolbox to help serve the increasing number of migrants arriving in Denver, particularly as winter weather sets in,” Hancock said.
Hancock added that he hopes volunteers will help out with the “humanitarian crisis” before the city “[reaches] the breaking point,” CBS News reported.
Townhall’s Julio Rosas reported from the border this week about the ongoing illegal immigration crisis. The crisis is expected to worsen astronomically now that Title 42 is ending.
On Monday, Julio reported how border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz revealed that his border agents encountered over 16,000 illegal immigrants in two days, averaging about 8,000 per day. It is expected that once Title 42 goes away, there could be up to 18,000 illegal crossings a day.
In El Paso, Texas, council members have called on the federal government to help alleviate the border crisis, urging the mayor to declare a state of emergency.