Venezuelans have found in Denver a new destination to arrive in the midst of the pressures that have been generated in the United States due to the immigration issue.
In December 2022 alone, almost 4,000 migrants, most of them Venezuelans, arrived in Denver without prior notice in the middle of a winter storm, with nowhere to stay and without the necessary clothing to keep warm from the low temperatures.
The arrival of so many people surprised local authorities, who were seeking to address the immigration crisis and deal with a series of winter storms that reached record lows and disrupted traffic out of the area.
Checking for solutions. Denver Democratic Gov. Jared Polis decided to take action and allocate $4 million to care for migrants, but he also arranged to bus those who wanted to continue traveling to Chicago or New York.
- This triggered the Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, to complain regarding the transfers from Denver, since his city is experiencing a similar crisis.
- What is happening shows that the record numbers of people still crossing the southern border are reverberating north, leaving cities like Denver, New York and Washington in jeopardy. This since Texas Governor Greg Abbott began busing impoverished migrants to sanctuary cities.
- Senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, Julia Gelatt, said: “They’re testing what border cities have been dealing with.” “The fact that people who need basic services show up in groups is really new for cities.”
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A route that went from less to more. Although Republican governors of states like Texas, Arizona and Florida have sent migrants to at least four cities, it remains unclear how Denver became a new destination for Venezuelans fleeing the economic and political chaos in their country.
- Migrant rights advocates once detected a small number of people arriving from the border in early 2022 and warned that the route was becoming increasingly popular.
- Last fall, many migrants traveled to the southern border hoping the Biden administration would shut down Title 42, instead President Joe Biden listed Venezuelans among the nationalities covered by the rule in October. The crossings of that nationality were reduced at the border, but the situation in Denver was different.
- The number of migrants arriving in the city grew dramatically to 200 times per day in December.
In response, Denver authorities had three recreation centers converted into emergency migrant shelters and paid families with children to stay in hotels.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock stated that “cities and states are ill-equipped to deal with this.” “Whether you’re on the border or in Denver, Colorado, the cities aren’t ready for this.”
