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The latest influx of migrants who arrived by bus to Denver may have
surprised local and state officials, but they weren’t completely
unexpected, according to immigration advocates.
Approximately 600 migrants have made their way to Denver over the
past several months, according to the city’s emergency operations
center, though Colorado was not the final destination for all of
them. As of Monday afternoon, 153 migrants were staying in the
city’s emergency shelter, 48 in a church-run shelter, 52 had arrived
at homeless shelters overnight and 35 were planning to leave the
emergency shelter to stay with friends or family.
Where are the migrants coming from and where are they staying?
The bus of about 150 migrants that arrived last week in downtown
Denver was not chartered by any organization or sent as a political
move. The people arriving had self-funded their way to Denver, said
Jennifer Piper, interfaith organizing director for the American
Friends Service Committee. Her organization, along with Casa de paz,
Colorado Hosting Asylum Network and Denver Community Church are
working with the city to shelter migrants in the Denver Welcome
Center and to provide resources. Many of the migrants have traveled
through El Paso, Texas, and other border towns.
The migrants came into the U.S. from Central and South America, many
from Venezuela, to apply for asylum. About half the people who
arrived are looking to rejoin family members and may work some day
labor jobs to earn money to get to their next stop, Piper said.
About 50-100 people are arriving every day in Denver.
Some are coming by bus, some by personal vehicle, either making the
choice individually or through loosely organized groups, said city
spokesperson Jill Lis.
Why are more migrants making their way to Denver?
The situation in Venezuela has become untenable for many families
with ongoing political (including government persecution) and
humanitarian crises, and U.S. oil sanctions. People started to flee
Venezuela to other South American countries to find food and work,
but not every refugee has been able to settle in nearby countries,
so some have set their sights on the U.S. Or, some have tried to
stay in countries like Mexico, and had to flee again.
Additionally, the Biden administration decided to apply Title 42, a
Trump-era policy, to Venezuelans so they aren’t able seek asylum at
a port of entry but have to try to get it from outside the U.S. and
have a sponsor. Instead, many are forced to find a way to enter into
the country without detection — some get stopped at the border, get
expelled to Mexico and then make it back into the U.S.
Still, “we’re not seeing folks coming to Denver because there’s more people suddenly coming to the U.S. than there was two weeks ago,”
Piper said. The journeys of those arriving in Denver began three or
four months ago.
The exact reason the migrants are choosing Denver varies.
“Denver is a very welcoming city. And so that may be something
people are hearing and understand and feel like it’s a feasible
option for them,” Lis said. “People are coming here in challenging situations and just looking for a safe, welcoming place where they
might stop.”
https://www.denverpost.com/2022/12/13/colorado-migrants-venezuela- what-we-know/
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