Denver has been straining under the burden of the Biden Border Crisis, slashing police, fire, and other city services to accommodate the influx of illegal immigrants flooding their city.
City bureaucrats have gone so far as to create a playbook on how they’ve turned Denver into a haven for migrants, ensuring they can efficiently drain public resources. Denver is now providing food, housing, and various forms of assistance to these “newcomers,” making it clear that anyone who crosses the border and ends up in Denver will feel especially welcome.
Since December 2022, Denver has welcomed and assisted nearly 42,000 individuals from the U.S. southern border, offering essential services and resources. Their efforts include helping with onward travel, temporary shelter, permanent housing searches, medical and mental health support, work authorization, legal assistance, school enrollment, and more.
In April 2024, Denver introduced the new Denver Asylum Seekers Program, aimed at approximately 1,000 individuals currently in their newcomer shelter system. This program provides up to six months of housing assistance from the date of their asylum application and includes an innovative pre-work authorization readiness program called WorkReady. Participants will collaborate with case managers to ensure they are on the right track and will connect with workforce training opportunities through partnerships with nonprofits, local businesses, educational institutions, and training organizations. The program also includes access to language instruction, career pathway explorations, industry-recognized credential training, and work-based learning opportunities.
It’s commendable that Denver has apparently solved all the problems of its own residents. Few places are so affluent and problem-free that they can extend such extensive support to citizens of other countries who just show up. Denver has even chosen to avoid using terms like “illegal alien” or “migrant,” opting instead for “newcomer” to maintain a friendly and welcoming tone.
Not every city would choose to cut its police force, but apparently, Denver has solved all its issues. One notable aspect of their approach is that every “newcomer” gets a concierge to guide them through accessing various services.
Step 12 of their playbook is particularly eye-catching: “Assign a case manager to each family and individual.” This ensures that everyone has the necessary support to navigate the various processes required for success. The case manager helps with legal resources, medical, dental, and mental health services, onward travel, potential workforce resources, and housing options.
Here are some considerations:
- Will one organization provide this support, or will there be several?
- Who will coordinate and organize all resources and entities to ensure all sheltered individuals have equitable access to support?
- Do the resources provided have the capacity to support the potential volume of individuals and families seeking assistance?
“Guests” is an even nicer term than “newcomers.” Denver has welcomed over 40,000 “guests” in the past 18 months, making them budding experts in making everyone feel welcome. While they are eager to share their experience, they haven’t outlined how other cities should decide which public services for residents to cut to afford all this generosity.
Maybe that will be in volume 2. Denver seems so wealthy and perfect that they don’t need police and fire services, and their weather is so nice that road repairs are hardly necessary.
It’s hard to get too worked up about Denver bureaucrats documenting their procedures, offensive as it may be that so much effort and money are spent dealing with the massive flow of illegal aliens. They have developed some procedures, so why not share them?
The real issue is Joe Biden’s open borders policy. It’s not just sanctuary cities dealing with the crisis; every corner of America is affected. Here’s a radical idea: quit being so welcoming. Sure, many of these “asylum seekers” may be decent people looking for a better life, but the same is true for legal immigrants, who wait in line and play by the rules.
We’ve created new, more welcoming rules for “newcomers” who break the law than for legal immigrants. That’s insane.
That’s Joe Biden’s America.