Colorado got an unexpected delivery from the state of Texas Monday morning.

A busload of immigrants just in from Texas was dropped off at the state capitol, city officials confirmed. These types of bus drop-offs are not unusual, but what is new is the location, officials said.

Leaving people at the center of state government – instead of at a shelter – sends a message, said Jon Ewing, spokesperson for Denver Human Services.

“This feels like a cheap shot. It feels intentional. Our shelters are not downtown. They are in different parts of the city but not right downtown. Some are even off of the interstate. All a driver has to do is just take an exit and you drop them right off,” Ewing said. 

Often, the city is notified about such drop-offs, but not always, which was the case Monday morning, officials said. 

Ewing’s office calls the unannounced drop off vehicles “Ghost Buses” because no one knows anything about who is inside or what the people may need.

“They often come off with a little blanket,” he said. “They don’t know the city and they don’t speak the language.” 

Denver has spent more than $32 million over the past year responding to the unfolding crisis that has seen nearly 30,000 immigrants who crossed the U.S. border with Mexico arriving in Colorado’s most populous city.

The bulk of that money went to personnel and facilities. Officials have spent roughly $4.2 million – as of last month – to transport immigrants to at least 46 states and Washington D.C., data obtained by the city shows.

Early in the crisis, officials determined that Denver would pay to transport immigrants to the city of their choice.

State and city officials have estimated 30% of the new arrivals have stopped in Denver on their way to somewhere else.

Immigrants’ top three choices are Chicago, New York and Salt Lake City.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused more than 7,800 immigrants to Denver since May in a program dubbed “Operation Lone Star,” according to his office.

That’s more than Texas has sent to Los Angeles and Philadelphia combined.

Abbott nabbed international headlines last spring, when he began sending immigrants to states led by Democratic governors, including Colorado.

For its part, Denver has sent at least 450 immigrants back to Texas, the majority to Dallas.

A year of immigrant drop-offs

As the city is poised to mark a year since nearly 100 immigrants were dropped off at the Union Station downtown, plunging the city into a humanitarian crisis.

All told, Denver has received 29,564 immigrants, officials said. 

Many are from South and Central America, particularly Venezuela.

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

Denver officials have scrambled to respond to the influx since immigrants began arriving in droves in December 2022. Since then, the city has continued to experience arrivals in waves, particularly since Texas began sending immigrants here.

Officials have speculated the draw to Denver might be because of its relative proximity to the Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. Others said it might be because Denver is considered a “sanctuary city,” which, broadly speaking, refers to local policies prohibiting cooperation with the federal immigration office.   

The mayors of New York City and Chicago have criticized Gov. Jared Polis for shuffling immigrants around, an accusation that has also been leveled against Republican governors.

High cost

Whether staying or leaving, the cost to temporarily house, feed and transport these new arrivals has largely fallen on Denver, whose taxpayers have assumed the cost of roughly $6 out of every $10 spent on the arriving immigrants.

If an immigrant’s desired final destination is elsewhere, city officials have provided, at taxpayers’ expense, free transportation via bus, train or plane.

Many of the arriving immigrants have support systems with family and friends in other cities

Roughly $13.4 million of the response has been – or is expected to be -reimbursed by the state and federal government.

Last month, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and a coalition of democratic mayors met with Homeland Security officials and lawmakers to discuss the crisis.

President Joe Biden requested from Congress $1.4 billion to help state and local governments to provide shelter and services to immigrants, far short of the $5 billion Johnson and other mayors sought.

Ewing said that with this latest immigrant drop-off, people were transported on a shuttle to a “welcome center,” checked for proper documentation and placed into shelters. He said it would have been helpful if whomever sent the bus would have saved Denver a step.

“We’ve asked officials in Texas repeatedly, can you just please drop them off at a shelter?” Ewing said. “”It’s dangerous and it’s inhumane.”