The influx of immigrants to Denver has now cost the city more than $29 million, and an independent analysis says the city is on track to spend almost $40 million by the end of the year. 

That scenario could mean crowding out the city’s financial priorities or compel the local government to increasing its operational costs – money its residents will have to shoulder, according to the analysis.  

More than 25,000 migrants have so far arrived in Denver, the city said, adding that about 2,500 are currently in shelters. Many of the immigrants came from Venezuela.

A little more than 50 people arrived on Monday, the city.  

Meanwhile, the Common Sense Institute, a research group, said Denver would have spent between $36.3 and $39.1 million on support services by the end of 2023. The group noted that the average influx of immigrants saw a spike between Sept. 16 and Oct. 16.

The group said 18,519 immigrants spent at least one day in official shelters, and each stayed for an average of over 18 days.

“The city’s spending patterns suggest that its migrant support services exhibit high fixed costs and low variable costs,” the group’s analysis said, adding that the arrival rates and shelter capacity are “weak predictors of spending.”

“This suggests that program expenditure is chiefly driven by overhead costs like facility rents and staff salaries,” the group said, adding, “As a result, though it will help relieve shelter occupancy, the city’s decision to shorten the maximum length of shelter stay will only induce a minor cost reduction.”

Earlier, Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spokesperson, blamed the latest immigrant surge on Texas.

As the number of border crossing has swelled in El Paso, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused immigrants out of the Lone Star State to the states of Democratic governors – including Colorado – with “self-declared sanctuary cities.”

Broadly speaking, a sanctuary city has established a policy discouraging local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

Abbott made international headlines last year when he sent immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard and to Vice President Kamala Harris’ D.C. residence.

Earlier this month, Texas sent nine busloads of immigrants over a single weekend, prompting panic and a change of tactics among Denver officials who have grappled with multiple waves of new arrivals that has threatened the city’s shelter capacity.

In response, Denver modified its length-of-stay policy for immigrant shelters, cutting down the time by a week for some and increasing by the same length for others.

Since May 18, Texas has bused more than 3,200 immigrants to Denver, according to the Abbott administration. And since employing his busing strategy, Abbott has bused out of Texas more than 50,000 immigrants.

The influx exemplifies the crisis unfolding at the U.S. border for years that has now spilled over into America’s interior to cities like Denver, which is more than 600 miles from El Paso, Texas, the closest U.S. border.

Democratic- and Republican-led governors have exchanged jabs at each other for busing immigrants out of their state and into another.

Earlier this year, the mayors of New York City and Chicago criticized Gov. Polis for sending immigrants in Denver to their cities. At the time the city had provided 1,900 bus tickets for immigrants to travel to more than 100 U.S. cities.

In its latest analysis, the Common Sense Institute warned that the nearly $40 million cost of immigration by the end of the year will be “nearly as much” as Denver’s Homelessness Resolution Fund.

The group blamed the crisis on “volatile federal policy and unwillingness to pursue comprehensive immigration reform.” 

“One of the consequences of that disorder is the financial burden that it thrusts upon local governments like Denver’s, which has incurred costs beyond its normal budgeted expenses as a result,” the group said. “Though these costs are currently being covered by contingency funds and partially reimbursed by external grants, they eventually risk either crowding out other financial priorities or increasing the ongoing cost of governance within the city-a cost that Denverites have to pay.”