Denver’s Democrat Mayor Michael Hancock has declared a “state of emergency” after his Colorado city has been flooded with illegal migrants from the southern border.
Hancock made the declaration on Thursday in order to stave off a local humanitarian crisis.
The city has been hit with an influx of illegal aliens from the southern border, mainly from El Paso, Texas.
Several hundred illegal border-crossers, mostly from Central and South America, have arrived in the state in just the past few days alone.
“Let me be frank: This influx of migrants, the unanticipated nature of their arrival, and our current space and staffing challenges have put an immense strain on city resources to the level where they’re on the verge of reaching a breaking point at this time,” Hancock told reporters during a Thursday press conference.
“What I don’t want to see is a local humanitarian crisis of unsheltered migrants on our hands because of a lack of resources,” he added.
According to the mayor’s office, more than 900 illegal aliens have arrived in Denver over the past several months.
That figure includes more than 600 people who arrived since December 2.
Another 247 illegal immigrants have arrived since Monday alone.
According to Hancock’s office., another 75 turned up at a local homeless shelter overnight on Thursday night.
Approximately 404 illegals are currently being accommodated in the city’s emergency shelters.
102 are being housed at church and nonprofit shelter sites, the mayor’s office said.
The “anticipated nature” of the arrival of the influx of illegal aliens has placed extreme pressure on the city’s efforts to shelter them, Hancock’s office said during Thursday’s news conference.
The situation is leading to limited space which is being further exacerbated by a lack of staffing.
The mayor’s office warns that winter weather is set to make the situation worse.
Hancock added that Denver is currently “at the level where we are on the verge of reaching breaking point at this time.”
“The declaration is another tool in the toolbox to help serve the increasing number of migrants arriving in Denver, particularly as winter weather sets in,” Hancock said.
Under the emergency declaration, Colorado’s Democrat Gov. Jared Polis will be alerted that Denver is enacting a state of emergency.
Denver will then be able to access additional emergency resources to help manage the influx of aliens.
The city will also be able to continue requesting financial assistance from various funding sources.
Hancock said that, together with community partners, and the help of local churches and nonprofits, the city continues to provide aliens—the majority of which are coming to the city having entered the United States through El Paso, Texas—with emergency shelter.
Denver has already used over $800,000 in taxpayer funds for sheltering illegal migrants.
That number is expected to increase significantly, officials warn.
According to Hancock, the majority of the illegal immigrants who have arrived in Denver are from Venezuela.
He says they are fleeing a political and humanitarian crisis in their home country.
The mayor took aim at Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration for failing to address the “critical situation” or respond adequately.
Hancock suggested the Biden admin is ignoring the situation after being made aware of it.
“It is at a crisis point right now and cities all over this country are being forced to deal with something we’re not equipped to deal with,” he said.
The mayor’s declaration comes shortly before the end of the Trump-era Title 42 program that allowed Border Patrol agents to turn illegal aliens back to their country immediately if they were deemed to pose a health threat amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Title 42, which helped stem the tide of illegal immigration and has been used millions of times to expel aliens since March 2020, is set to end on Dec. 21.
The Department of Homeland Security has unveiled a plan (pdf) to help deal with the influx of migrants attempting to enter the United States once Title 42 is dropped.
The plan includes closing gaps along the southwest border wall, creating more temporary detention tents, and increasing prosecutions of smugglers.
However, the department has said that it expects around 9,000 to 14,000 illegal aliens to cross the border daily.
As Slay News reported earlier, California’s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom is also raising the alarm about the end of the successful Trump-era policy.
