DENVER — Denver has set up an emergency shelter to accommodate as many as 100 immigrants from the U.S. southern border after the group arrived in the city by bus overnight Monday into Tuesday, according to the Denver Office of Emergency Management.
The office announced the activation of an emergency shelter, set up in an undisclosed city recreation center, on Twitter just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The immigrants were dropped off at the Denver Rescue Mission downtown, according to Mikayla Ortega, a spokeswoman from the city’s emergency management office, relaying information shared by shelter staff.
The city is estimating that between 90 and 100 people were dropped off because it is unclear if all of them stayed at the shelter after the bus left or if some went elsewhere to find family or friends, Ortega said.
A steady stream of immigrants has been coming into Denver for the past two to three months but at a rate that the city’s shelter system could accommodate. So many people arriving at once pushed the Rescue Mission beyond its limits, Ortega said.
“They reached out to us and sent up the flag. They said we need your help. That was yesterday morning,” Ortega said Wednesday. “That was when we activated the emergency shelter to accommodate the overload.”
The emergency management office shared a photo on Twitter of rows of cots set up in a gymnasium and stacks of bottled water for the people needing shelter. The immigrants arrived at that makeshift shelter around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Ortega said.
Through conversations with the immigrants, the city has learned that most are from Venezuela. A majority are between the ages of 20 and 40, but there are at least one or two children in the group, according to Ortega.
“They all speak Spanish and they all have told us they are migrants,” Ortega said.
There is still much the city doesn’t know, including where the immigrants came from last or how they got on the bus. The city also does not have a description of the bus to share at this point, Ortega said.
“We are continuing to talk to them, but their stories are not matching up on how they got here,” Ortega said. “I have to note there is a distrust in government. They are afraid.”
Mayor Michael Hancock’s directives when it comes to the immigrants is to get them stabilized and treat them with compassion while preparing them for their next steps, whether those be in Denver or somewhere else they might have friends or family, Ortega said.
Denver is a sanctuary city for immigrants. In 2018, Hancock signed legislation that strengthened those protections. City laws and policies include barring city employees from asking about or sharing a person’s legal immigration status and barring federal immigration agents from talking to inmates in secure areas of city jails unless they have warrants.
Denver is working with about a half-dozen nonprofit organizations to support the immigrants and their needs. The emergency shelter will be set up as long as is necessary to stabilize them, Ortega said.
Monetary donations to support the new arrivals can be made to Denver Community Church, Lutheran Family Services and the American Friends Service Committee, according to the latest city update. People seeking to volunteer at the shelter are being asked to contact Cali Zimmerman at Cali.Zimmerman@denvergov.org.
The city cannot accept donations of food, water and other materials at this time because it does not have the capacity to process those donations, Ortega said.
The arrival of the immigrants prompted state and local leaders to respond. Denver City Councilwoman Robin Kniech wrote on Twitter that she was “incredibly proud of city staff & interpreters who mobilized at a moment’s notice tonight, dedicated & compassionate, representing for Denver.”
Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper, Denver’s former mayor, issued a statement Wednesday morning implying the arrival of the immigrants was political theater similar to when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used state money to fly immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts earlier this year.
“Human lives are not political props. Denver will welcome these migrants with open arms and help any way they can. We will be empathetic to people put in a difficult situation,” Hickenlooper said in his statement. “Instead of playing partisan games, let’s tackle our broken immigration system once and for all.”
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