Denver City Wire

Express Major Concern over Reimbursement for Federal Challenge, Interior States Receiving Far Less Federal Funding, Urge Action on Work Permits

Mayor Michael Hancock and Governor Jared Polis are urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to take action and provide additional resources as Title 42 expires on Thursday to help Denver and Colorado navigate significant immigration challenges.

“We implore the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and relevant federal partner agencies to bolster direct support for non-border jurisdictions that are struggling to meet the immense human need resulting from continued migrant arrivals,” the Mayor and Governor wrote to Alejandro Mayorkas Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

“We appreciate the complexity of this challenge, particularly in the face of intransigence on the part of Republican Congressional leadership to prevent urgently needed changes to fix a broken immigration system.  We are also grateful for the leadership of most of our Congressional Delegation, in particular our U.S. Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper, and Rep. Diana DeGette, for their leadership.  Nevertheless, and despite the clear federal responsibility for immigration policy and border security in the United States, the responsibility for recent arrivals has fallen on cities and states across the nation including Denver, the State of Colorado and local non-governmental agencies (NGOs). As a result, we experienced a significant and unreimbursed drain of local financial resources that unfairly and disproportionately impacts our residents. To date the State of Colorado has spent 8.35 million dollars and Denver has spent more than 14 million dollars since December 2022, to shelter, feed and otherwise support more than 7,000 migrants,” the letter from Mayor Hancock and Gov. Polis to the federal government continues. 

“While Federal partners point to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program - Humanitarian (EFSP-H) to help us with expenses, the program is not equipped to keep up with the veritable ocean of human needs as arrivals continue. We were encouraged by the increase in funding in the federal fiscal year 2023. But, we are extremely disappointed that the EFSP-H funded neither the City of Denver nor the State of Colorado adequately despite several requests and applications for funding. EFSP-H  funded less than four percent of these massive costs. For perspective, EFSP-H reimbursed the City of Denver for one week’s worth of services.  We remain deeply concerned that our jurisdictions will not be fairly reimbursed for shouldering this unprecedented federal responsibility.  While we appreciate any funding we can obtain to assist with this crisis, the funding we received is minuscule compared to the critical needs we faced and are facing on the ground,” Mayor Hancock and Governor Polis wrote.

“We want to reiterate that non-border jurisdictions are very much impacted by this crisis. Receiving additional funding is essential to caring for the needs of migrants while maintaining solvency of our local finances,” Mayor Hancock and Governor Polis wrote.

“We strongly believe that work authorization is the most critical step to ensure that individuals already released into the interior and those currently being allowed into the United States have an opportunity to integrate into and contribute to our communities. We find that our newest arrivals are seeking a hand up, not a handout, and without work authorization it makes independence much more difficult.  Per our last communication some months ago, we urge DHS to expand temporary protective status (TPS) or provide another mechanism that would allow for temporary work authorization that is consistent and reliable,” the letter continues.

Original source can be found here.