The Denver City Council gave preliminary approval to creating a new fund that would exclusively support the city’s response to this year’s influx of immigrants from the southern border.

A bill that establishes the “Border Crisis Response Special Revenue Fund” passed unanimously on first reading on Monday. Staff proposed the fund in the wake of a humanitarian crisis that unfolded after the city began seeing surges of immigrants arriving in Denver late last year.

A companion measure that authorizes moving a combined $18.2 million from other city coffers into the border crisis fund also passed on first reading. The dollars are from the General Fund Contingency, the Technology Services Capital Improvement Fund, the Human Services Special Revenue Fund, and the General Government Special Revenue Fund. The funds will not be needed to cover city obligations this year, staff told councilmembers during committee meetings last week.

Denver could contract migrant sheltering services to private company

Both bills were considered as part of the consent agenda and passed without council discussion. They will return for final approval next month.

The votes came one day before the city council and the mayor’s administration are set to discuss a proposal to begin contracting out the city’s services for immigrants to a private company.

The mayor-council meeting takes place on Tuesday morning, with a resolution to contract with GardaWorld Federal Services on the agenda. Pending those discussions, the contract could come up for final council approval, alongside the bills considered Monday, which would establish the contract’s funding source.

The proposed $40 million contract for immigrant sheltering and emergency services became a hot topic at a council committee meeting last week.

If approved, GardaWorld Federal Services would take over those services for immigrants through at least March 2024, with the option for two one-year renewals of the contract.

Feds give Denver $8.6 million for immigrant response

Services would include providing congregate shelter for up to 1,000 people, co-locating that shelter with reception and intake services, providing a 1:30 staff-guest ratio, and overflow capacity at city motels. GardaWorld is still vetting three different locations as of Wednesday.

Staff estimated that Denver would need to put roughly $20 million toward the contract this calendar year.

The influx of immigrants to illustrates the calamity that’s been unfolding at the U.S. border for years, a crisis that is spilling over into cities in America’s interior, including Denver, which is more than 600 miles from El Paso, Texas, the closest U.S. border.

City officials said the immigrants pick Denver because of El Paso’s relative proximity to Denver, at least in terms of being able to get to the city by bus with relative ease. Organizations also highlight the resources and diversity in the community, as well as its status as a “sanctuary city,” as reasons attracting the immigrants to Denver. 

As committee members deliberated the proposal, GardaWorld came under scrutiny for its work with the state of Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis led a program that transported immigrants to Democrat-led cities.

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GardaWorld leadership vowed the company would not move immigrants out of state against their will under a contract with Denver. GardaWorld did not transport immigrants out of state on behalf of Florida, senior leadership maintained last week.

The arrival of 90 immigrants at Union Station in December was the first influx to grab city official’s attention. Denver has since supported more than 12,100 migrants in the months since at a cost of more than $18.5 million.

Many are fleeing from Central and South America.

Jay Morein, executive director of Denver Department of Human Services, told committee members last week that 81% of the immigrants surveyed by DHS as they left emergency shelter were moving out of Denver. Another 11.6% reported that they found other housing and 1.5% planned to move to a different shelter.

When pressed by Councilmember Robin Kniech, staff said there have yet to be conversations about how the city will support immigrants who become Denver residents, but that it requires collaboration among multiple agencies and is not Denver’s responsibility alone.

Another resolution voted on as part of council’s Monday consent agenda extends the city’s local disaster emergency declaration pertaining to sheltering immigrants through August 21. The emergency declaration first enacted by the mayor in December 2022 would have expired on Monday.

Denver has spent $17 million responding to immigrant surges