Facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, the city of Denver is suggesting that immigrants go elsewhere.
A video from inside a migrant shelter showed Andres Carrera, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s political director, speaking in Spanish to immigrants telling them there are better opportunities outside Colorado.
“The opportunities are over,” Carrera said. “New York gives you more. Chicago gives you more. So I suggest you go there where there is longer-term shelter. There are also more job opportunities there.”
“We are not going to block you if you want to stay here,” Carrera said. “If you stay here, you are going to suffer even more, and I don’t want to see this.”
The immigrants in the video arrived in Denver on March 26, a part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) efforts to bus immigrants out of Texas to sanctuary cities, according to a city spokesperson. Carrera said immigrants won’t be blocked from staying, but he suggested that staying would invoke “suffering.”
Denver recently began cracking down on immigrants staying in the city. Last month, the city began closing shelters in order to address its budget deficit. Closing shelters saved the city $60 million, bringing the deficit down to $120 million from $180 million.
“We knew that as a result of federal inaction on immigration and the resulting budget crisis, there were two important steps we needed to take,” Johnston said at the time of the closures. “One was to adjust the city’s budgets to help support these needs, and the second was to reduce the overall cost of our migrant program.”
Immigrants were not kicked out but moved to different shelters as part of the consolidation process. Carrera’s message suggests Denver is still looking to cut the number of immigrants in the city from 38,000 in February. Other Colorado cities had said they will not financially support the immigration crisis.
“You don’t have to walk anywhere. We can buy you a free ticket,” Carrera told immigrants. “You can go to any city. We can take you up to the Canadian border, wherever!”
A spokesperson for the city clarified that comment, saying Denver will not be buying immigrants tickets but will help them get to their desired destination.
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Denver imposes limits on how long immigrants can stay. Individuals can stay up to two weeks, and families can stay up to six weeks.
At the end of the address, Carrera asked migrants, “Who wants to travel to different cities where there is more work?” The crowd remained silent. When asked who wanted to stay in Denver, the people responded, “Everyone.”