(The Center Square) – The federal government will supply Denver with $8.6 million to assist cope with the town’s migrant disaster, officers introduced this week.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced previous this week greater than $290 million will likely be to be had to 34 non-federal entities around the nation for transient refuge and different migrant-related expenditures. In addition to Denver’s allocation, the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management will obtain $1.2 million.
U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., requested U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for monetary help in May ahead of President Joe Biden’s management lifted Title 42. The coverage addressed public well being on the border and used to be emphasised by means of former President Donald Trump in March 2020 all through the start of the pandemic.
The letter to Mayorkas mentioned the town and state spent between $20 million and $24 million to assist roughly 8,500 migrant arrivals since December 2022.
“In recent months, the city of Denver and state of Colorado have united to address the immense humanitarian needs of migrants from our southern border – spending millions of dollars to shelter and support these migrants and straining local resources,” Bennet mentioned in a remark. “I’m appreciative that the federal government answered our calls to provide more support to Denver, and we’ll continue to push for more federal support in the days ahead.”
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock additionally expressed appreciation for the investment.
“I’m thrilled that Homeland Security has granted Denver more funding to cover a portion of the nearly $18 million the city has spent responding to the migrant influx since December,” Hancock said in a remark. “I want to thank Secretary Mayorkas for listening to our calls for support, as well as Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper and Congresswoman (Diana) DeGette for their tireless advocacy to secure these much-needed funds. We’ve mounted an unprecedented response to this humanitarian crisis over the last seven months, and we look forward to continued conversations with the Biden-Harris Administration about additional assistance.”
The Department of Homeland Security mentioned an extra $72.7 million will likely be made to be had later this yr in a 2nd spherical of program investment.
The division mentioned the U.S. Customs and Border Protection counted 2.7 million migrants in the hunt for access into the rustic in fiscal yr 2022. It used to be roughly a 41% build up when put next to the former yr. As of May 1, officers estimated 1,000,000 migrants national sought access. Since fiscal yr 2020, 85% of the ones migrants entered on the country’s southwest border.
“Supporting communities is a critical component of DHS’s efforts to manage encounters at the southwest border in a safe, orderly, and humane manner,” a division media unencumber mentioned. “Previous rounds of funding focused primarily on the needs of border communities, and this round increased funding for interior cities receiving migrants while maintaining a significant percentage for border communities.”
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