Democrat-run Denver plans to strip funding from public services to pay for the crush of migrants the sanctuary city has become inundated with.
On Wednesday, liberal Mayor Mike Johnston announced a budget plan that will dedicate $89.9 million to support the waves of undocumented migrants flooding into the Colorado capital. The funds will come from the $45 million that is currently allocated for
This money will be sourced from the $45 million presently allocated for public programs and services, which will force both the police and fire departments to substantially slash their budgets.
Denver police will lose around $8.4 million, which equates to roughly 2% of the department’s operating budget, while the fire department will face a $2.5 million reduction.
The public funds will be used for 2024 migrant aid initiatives, including $51.7 million for ‘Shelter and Housing,’ $9.7 million for ‘Supportive Services,’ $9.5 million for ‘One Time Capital Costs,’ $3 million for ‘Program Administration,’ and another $10 million allocated for contingencies.
“‘After more than a year of facing this crisis together, Denver finally has a sustainable plan for treating our newcomers with dignity while avoiding the worst cuts to city services,” Johnston said at a Wednesday press conference.
“So many times we were told that we couldn’t be compassionate while still being fiscally responsible,” he added. “Today is proof that our hardest challenges are still solvable, and that together we are the ones who will solve them.”
Denver has become the go-to city in the West for migrants to flock to, which has already stressed the city’s limited resources.
Around 40,000 migrants arrived in the city in 2023, and without including the first four months of the new year, their total migrant population is around 710,000, according to NBC News.
To accommodate the surge, Denver has already expended more than $42 million on housing and healthcare for migrants, which is projected to rise to more than $100 million this year.
Johnston appeared on CNBC to defend the city’s financial support of illegal immigrants.
“We think it’s a balance. We want to be a welcoming city where you don’t have a woman with a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old sleeping outside in a tent in ten-degree weather in a snowstorm. That’s one of our values,” he told host Carl Quintanilla.
“And we also want to be able to provide high-quality public services to all the taxpayers,” the mayor added. “That’s also one of our values.”
Johnston did acknowledge that the amount of migrants who have came to Denver is “much higher” then they anticipated, and bemoaned a lack of funding from the federal government.
“In this context, without any federal support, to do both of those things requires shared sacrifice, it requires compromise,” he noted.
“So, we are both making cuts to city budgets to meet this financial need, and we are making cuts to the amount of services we can provide to the migrants that arrive and to the number of folks that we can serve.”
The leadership of the respective cities should immediately be arrested and relieved of their duties! As they have violated their oath of office and responsibilities to their constituents. Guess that they didn’t bother or remember their oath that pledged to uphold their duties to their city, state and country! Lock them up!