This week, Mayor Mike Johnston is in Washington D.C., focusing on aiding Denver’s migrant crisis. Johnston says cities, including Denver are at a breaking point.
So, he’s asking for assistance from our federal government to meet the need of this community.
CBS News Colorado anchor Mekialaya White sat down for a remote one-on-one interview with Johnston to discuss details of the trip.
“I’m here with a group of mayors from around the country, really focusing on both access to resources for affordable housing… for resources for families across Denver. We are here to focus on the migrant crisis and how we can bring mayors together to really push Congress and federal government to take action. We need federal resources to help migrants who are arriving in Denver, and so they can support themselves which is what they’ve asked most urgently to be able to do.”
“We know the president has pushed a federal supplemental budget for more security at the border and more officers to help adjudicate asylum claims… this would help… get folks work authorization if they meet asylum criteria and then get them to work in Denver,” Johnston continued. “We know those dollars are there. We have Senate support. We have the president’s support. We need the House to come forward.”
Johnston is asking departments across the city to cut budgets to meet the needs of incoming migrants. “How much money are we talking for this effort?” White asked.
“We know this is unsustainable, when we have more than 5,000 folks in shelters across our Denver system and more coming every day and those folks coming without the ability to work which means we need more public resources. That looks like $180 million for the 2024 budget. That’s almost 10% of the entire city budget. That would be a humanitarian crisis for the newcomers, and it would be a fiscal crisis for our city,” he said.
Johnston says he’s looking at a long-term solution.
“We want to stabilize countries like Venezuela that have 34,000% inflation and people fleeing for extrajudicial killings. We want to make sure we get a border policy that they agree on and enforce it. We have a high volume of folks coming without work authorization. That’s the long-term problem we have to solve, but there’s a clear path to solve it. We know mayors across the country could welcome them,” he said.
“I think people that are worried (in Denver) now should be doing what I’m doing,” he added. “Reach out to your congresspeople directly and ask them to support the president’s supplemental budget because our cities need resources.”
