From the Denver paper.
Denver cuts services in response to the migrant crisis that’s costing the city $180 million
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced cuts to the DMV and Parks & Recreation in response to the migrant crisis.

Jennifer Brown
10:52 AM MST on Feb 9, 2024
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Original Reporting
Subject Specialist
The Trust Project
The Denver skyline.
Downtown Denver as seen from Highland Park in July 2021. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
Denver will cut hours at recreation centers, end in-person vehicle registration renewals and eliminate spring flower beds to save $5 million this year, a response to the migrant crisis that is expected to cost the city $180 million.

Mayor Mike Johnston on Friday blasted Congress for failing this week to pass a $118.3 billion bill aimed at stopping the flow of illegal entry at the southern border and making it easier for migrants who enter legally to get work permits.

About 40,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have arrived in Denver over the past year, and more than 3,500 are living in city-funded hotel rooms. Thousands took bus rides to other American cities after arriving in Denver, and an unknown number are trying to stay in the city, find jobs and send their kids to school.

Denver has received more migrants per capita than any other city in the nation, the mayor has said.

Denver set up emergency operations to welcome the new arrivals, opened city buildings as shelters and is organizing clinics to help those who are eligible apply for work authorization. Volunteers, meanwhile, mobilized to bring food, and in some cases, tents and propane heaters for those who are living outside.


“I want to thank every resident in the city who has showed up to cook a meal for someone who has arrived, who has welcomed somebody to their home, who has offered them a job, who said, ‘We will help you find your way,’” the mayor said during an emotional news conference in which he got choked up more than once. “You’ve done your part. The city will do our part. The federal government did not do their part.”

The budget cuts announced Friday amount to just one-fortieth of what the influx of newcomers will cost the city, Johnston said. They are also just the beginning, he said, as he plans to talk to the City Council about more cuts in the weeks to come.

Recreation centers will close one day each week. Division of Motor Vehicle satellite offices in the city will alternate closing one week at a time beginning March 4, and residents can no longer renew vehicle registrations in person. Denver Parks & Recreation will not plant flower beds this spring and will cut spring programs by 25%.

No full-time employees will lose their jobs, the mayor said, but some hourly and seasonal workers may have hours cut or positions will be left open. “I want it to be clear to Denverites who is not responsible for this crisis that we’re in: The folks who have walked 3,000 miles to get to this city,” Johnston said, describing families he met who were fleeing violence and poverty in Venezuela.