Editor’s note: Welcome to Border Crossroads, a series of dispatches from America’s southern border, where reporter Nico Brambila and multimedia producer Tom Hellauer are chronicling the crisis that is spilling over into Denver and other interior cities.    

EL PASO, TEXAS — El Paso Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino offered some advice to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston: Keep pushing for federal money to address the crisis brought on by surges of immigrants crossing the border.

“Don’t give up on the funding requests,” D’Agostino said. “Continuing to push for the funding.”

Unlike Denver — which has shouldered most of the $40 million cost to temporarily house, feed and transport immigrants, who illegally crossed the southern border and took buses to Colorado’s most populous city — El Paso taxpayers are not being asked to fund the humanitarian effort in west Texas.

His city spent, in the final quarter of fiscal year 2022-2023, $15 million on the effort — all of which was reimbursed by the federal government except $1.5 million, D’Agostino said.

Before pressing for its congressional delegation for funding, D’Agostino said, the city of El Paso was fronting the cost, hoping to be reimbursed by the federal government. Now the city received the funding upfront.

“Luckily, up to this point, we haven’t had to burden taxpayers,” said El Paso County Commissioner David Stout.

El Paso County leaders anticipate spending $25 million this year on its response.

In sharp contrast, the Johnston administration is bracing for $180 million in expenses, which prompted the mayor earlier this month to call for at least a 10% reduction in many city department’s budgets. This estimate, however, was based on the unprecedented number of newly arriving immigrants.

The city of El Paso jumps into the fray when border surges — there have been three — eclipse the ability for churches and nonprofits to respond.

The city provides immigrants sleeping accommodations, food and first aid.

Transportation is provided, free of charge, through Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing program.

Since April 2022, the Republican governor has targeted so-called “sanctuary cities” in his busing campaign, sending more than 102,000 immigrants out of Texas to six cities, including Denver.

Generally speaking, a “sanctuary city” describes municipalities and counties that establish policies discouraging local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities. Several years ago, the Denver City Council passed an ordinance that prohibits “city employees from collecting information on immigration or citizenship status; prohibits the sharing of any other information about individuals for purposes of immigration enforcement; and, memorializes predominant practices by prohibiting use of city resources or City cooperation with civil immigration enforcement.”

To date, Abbott has bused in eight months more than 16,000 migrants to Denver. That’s more than the number Abbott has sent to Los Angeles and Philadelphia, combined.