Next week when Denver begins closing shelters used to temporarily house immigrants, officials will start with the shelter in Aurora that has driven a wedge between the two cities.

The shelter is one of four hotels that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said earlier this week the city would be shuttering over the next month, a move that is expected to slash the city’s projected $180 million spending on the illegal immigration crisis by $60 million.

At least one Aurora official said Friday that the move was a little too little too late.

Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, who sponsored the immigration resolution approved earlier this week, called the closure “a joke.”

“I don’t know what it is exactly that they’re closing,” Jurinsky said. “Most of the people have already left.”

In fact, Denver has been winding down its shelter operations Aurora over the past two months.

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said on Dec. 12 in a Facebook post that Denver officials agreed to close the shelter.

“I deeply appreciate that Mayor Johnston not only agreed to stop busing anymore migrants to the hotel but that he also agreed to pick up the migrants, who are currently staying there, when their vouchers expire,” Coffman said.

The issue nabbed headlines after the hotel, to make room for immigrants, booted out long-term residents like Joe Sauceda, who had been living in the Aurora hotel for a year.

Earlier this week, the Aurora City Council made a symbolic statement that it was not a sanctuary city when it passed a resolution demanding other cities and organizations “not systematically transport migrants or people experiencing homelessness” into their city without first coordinating with Aurora.

Aurora to local governments, nonprofits: Don’t bring immigrants in without coordinating

“Sanctuary city” generally refers to a designation given to municipalities and counties with policies that discourage local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

Jurinsky sponsored the resolution.

“I think that we made a statement loud enough that Denver will think twice before busing them in again,” Jurinsky said.

Aurora Councilwoman Allison Coombs, who voted against the resolution, sees the rift between the two cities differently.

Her city leadership, Combs said, had already declined to provide funding to aid in the response long before Denver bused immigrants to Aurora. And while Aurora will not be part of the regional response Denver leaders had hoped for in a long-term strategy, Combs said not to count her residents out.

“I see (nonprofit organizations) playing a role in making sure Aurora as a community is still part of the response even though Aurora, as part of the government, is not,” Coombs said.

About 10 immigrants were staying at the hotel in Aurora Friday, said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for Denver Human Services, which is managing the humanitarian response.

Johnston said during a press conference on Wednesday that about 300 immigrants could be relocated.

If they have not exhausted their shelter stay – which is two weeks for individuals and about six for families – immigrants either will be relocated to another shelter or helped placed in housing.

As of Friday morning, Denver has received 38,941 immigrants. Not all of them stayed here, as Denver has provided transportation vouchers to send them to other cities they chose. 

Early in the humanitarian crisis, Denver officials decided the city would assume the responsibility to temporarily house, feed and transport arriving immigrants, who ended up in Denver after illegally crossing the southern border.

That decision has cost more than $58 million.

Despite state and federal grants, Denver taxpayers have assumed the bulk of these costs.

In January – at the height of the latest wave of new arrivals, when Denver was sheltering nearly 5,000 immigrants – Johnston projected the costs this year could reach $180 million and he directed city departments to make cuts of up to 15%.

About 2,200 immigrants were being sheltered on Friday.

With the shelter closures, Johnston has said the spending on the response could now be up to $120 million.

Last month Johnston announced $5 million in service cuts to the Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Parks & Recreation with more belt tightening expected.