With more than 40,000 migrants arriving since 2022, Denver is at a breaking point with the weight of the costs of delivering free housing, free medical care, free legal advice, free education for their children, and other things to migrants.
In response, Democrat Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has come down to massive budget cuts to city services to legal residents to address the issue.
Up until last month, Denver has put $42 million into caring for Joe Biden’s flood of illegal aliens that have inundated the Mile High City. The costs may amount to more than $180 million this year, according to the New York Times.
Mayor Johnston said that the $9 million coming from the federal government to be dedicated to the migrant issue was simply not enough to solve the crisis. So, to address the shortfall, Johnston says the city needs to pick up the difference.
“We are going to have to make changes to what we can do in terms of our city budget and what we can do in terms of support for newcomers who have arrived in the city,” Johnston said on Feb. 9.
“We want to continue to be a city that does not have women and children out on the street in tents in 20-degree weather,” he added. “And we also want to provide all our constituents with the services they deserve and the services that they expect.”
“This is a plan for shared sacrifice,” said Johnston said.
Johnston went on to propose cuts in services to city residents.
BREAKING: Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) announces cuts in services at the DMV and Park & Recs to free up more resources for illegals. He warns there will be more cuts coming.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 9, 2024
He blames Republicans for his decision to cut services to Denver residents.
Democrats made Denver a… pic.twitter.com/s56nkSn7OZ
Perhaps absurdly, the Democrat mayor tried to blame Republicans and Donald Trump for the illegal alien issue and claimed that Trump scotched a a “bipartisan Senate deal” and he and Republicans worked to “kill that bill just so this crisis would continue just because he thinks he has a better chance of reelection.”
Many citizens may not be buying Johnston’s naked political attack on Republicans.
Residents of nearby Lakewood are worried that their town will also succumb to the overflow from Denver.
On Monday, Lakewood residents packed a city council meeting demanding that their elected officials create policies to prevent the sort of mess that is swamping Denver, CPR News reported.
“What you see tonight is informed voters who have watched Denver’s decline, and don’t want the same here,” resident Dawn Austin said during the meeting were some toted signs reading, “Don’t Denver Our Lakewood.”
“This community cannot afford this,” said Ramey Johnson, a former city councilwoman who has helped organize the people voicing concerns. “It’s not that we are not a compassionate community. We are,” another resident named Ramey Johnson said. “But we cannot care for the world.”
Infuriated Lakewood, Colorado residents go off on local officials over illegal immigrants |
— Andrea Shaffer, Employment/Labor Law (@Andreafreedom76) February 13, 2024
Lakewood has a population of 154,000 residents just 7 miles west of Denver. The residents were furious at last nights city council meeting. The meeting was at capacity last night with… pic.twitter.com/1jfXhpeIKQ
Infuriated Lakewood, Colorado residents go off on local officials over illegal immigrants |
— Andrea Shaffer, Employment/Labor Law (@Andreafreedom76) February 13, 2024
Lakewood has a population of 154,000 residents just 7 miles west of Denver. The residents were furious at last nights city council meeting. The meeting was at capacity last night with… pic.twitter.com/1jfXhpeIKQ
City officials assured residents that they were not planning on opening any shelters for illegals any time soon. During the meeting, Lakewood city manager Kathy Hodgson told the council that “Lakewood is not being solicited for hotel/motel or congregate housing support.”
The Denver area is hardly alone. This budget busting destruction is not happening just in scattered cities. Budgets are being busted across the country as liberal cities race to shift money from police, firemen, libraries, and every other city service to the feeding and housing of Joe Biden’s illegals.
From Los Angeles, to Chicago, to Boston, to New York City, and up into Maine, not to mention in every corner of the southwest, cities are being swamped and outspent by the millions of border crossers who have come here assuming that Joe Biden has created a wide open border.
New York Mayor Eric Adams suffered a major backlash on Nov. when he suggested that he intended to cut hundreds of hundreds of millions from the Big Apple’s yearly budget.
And just this week, Maine state Senator Matt Pouliot warned voters that the state has thrown a hefty $13 million dollars to house just 85 families in hotel in Saco in cooperation with Catholic Charities of Maine.
Sen. Pouliot noted in a press conference on Tuesday that he and several other members of the state legislature visited the hotel in Saco, located just south of Portland.
“This hotel at which we’ve spent now over $13 million at,” the state sen. said. “This hotel has served just 85 families. Now think about that for a moment. We have 186 really bright minds in the legislature working on really complex problems. And somehow 13 almost $14 million is being diverted to help just 85 families. That doesn’t seem right.”
Senator Matt Pouliot explains how over $13 million in taxpayer funding is going to support just 85 migrant families at a hotel in Saco. pic.twitter.com/oz5NkGuV7W
— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) February 13, 2024
Republican Senate Majority Leader Trey Stewart echoed Pouliot’s concerns.
“It’s really striking to me that the folks in rural Maine are being told to do more with less, meanwhile Taj Mahals are being built for other folks in more urban places that aren’t even Maine residents, Maine citizens,” Stewart said on Feb. 14, according to The Center Square.
Republican House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham noted that more illegals have flooded Maine in just a year than moved to Maine to become legal residents since the year 2000.
Faulkingham blasted Democrat Gov. Janet Mills for putting “migrants over Mainers and added, “Just to put that number in perspective, it’s more people to move in than have moved in since 2000 – and Mainers are footing the bill.”
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