Mayor Mike Johnston is transitioning the responsibility of responding to the city’s illegal immigration woes to the city’s refugee affairs division, signaling that his administration no longer sees the influx of people from the border as a crisis.

Johnston revealed the move in a letter outlining $7.3 million worth of proposed changes to the city’s spending plan for 2025. 

The mayor’s office said the administration is moving its immigration response program and the budget for it from the Denver Human Services department to the Human Rights and Community Partnerships Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Division.

“As the influx of new arrivals has slowed, we plan to build upon our long-term, sustainable strategy by moving the Newcomer Program,” Johnston said in his letter to councilmembers.

Given the time to “responsibly reconcile existing grants and shift resources and staff to a new agency,” Johnston said his office plans to bring the move to City Council in a separate ordinance early next year. 

“Now that we are out of the emergency response phase, it makes a lot of sense,” said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the city.

Ewing said putting the program under refugee affairs would reflect “our desire to house the program with the city’s experts in supporting Denver’s immigrant and refugee residents, with a specific focus on newcomer integration.”

“The future version of the city’s newcomer programming will continue the city’s transition away from an emergency response to a long-term, sustainable initiative,” he added. 

The waves of immigrants arriving in Denver peaked in January, when as many 5,200 immigrants were being served by the city in a single day. That number now sits at 281, according to the city’s immigration dashboard, though officials have stopped updating that dashboard as of Oct. 10.

According to Ewing, the 281 number should be zero by now, considering the city isn’t operating short term immigrant shelters.

Since December 2022, Denver has spent about $76 million of taxpayer dollars on the crisis, which, at one point, so strained the city’s resources that officials instituted a hiring freeze, cut back DMV hours and even skipped flower planting to save money.

Denver plans to spend $12.5 million on immigration next year, according to Ewing.

“This transition is happening in the context of declining demand for newcomer sheltering services over the course of the past several months,” he said.

In his letter to the City Council, Johnston said the city’s “WorkReady” program will continue. The program aims to provide immigrants with work and life skills to build “a talent pipeline for professions facing significant labor shortages,” Johnston said.

Roughly 325 immigrants are currently taking part in the program, according to Ewing.

The Johnston administration is proposing $3 million for the program next year, Ewing said, adding that since the number of immigrants arriving has slowed, “now the city would have more flexibility.”

“The program has been very successful,” Ewing said. “Now, we are looking to see what a second version of the program might look like.”

In other budget news, Johnston said he wants to add $3 million to the $20 million he originally proposed for the Temporary Rent and Utility Assistance Program, which seeks to assist renters under the 80% area median income line.

Last year, the City Council successfully convinced Johnston to raise TRUA funding to $29.1 million, roughly $17 million more than what Johnston proposed last year.

“Keeping people in their homes, despite rising rents, is a priority shared by my administration and City Council,” Johnston said. “Together with our nonprofit housing partners, we are carefully stewarding our TRUA resources toward households who are most vulnerable to eviction and homelessness.”

Johnston’s letter to the council highlighted areas where he can compromise on $29.1 million in budget changes requested by the council earlier this month.

Last August, Ewing estimated that about 4% of those who received rental and utility assistance from the city are immigrants.

Among other proposals, Johnston wants to increase construction-related support for small businesses by $1.1 million, increase investments into youth programs by $1.5 million and add $1 million to the Safe Routes to School program.

“As we navigate one of the tightest budgets of the last decade and a significant drop in federal funding, I’m committed to working together to deliver a balanced budget that protects the vital city services residents deserve,” Johnston said in a statement.