On a recent visit to one of the nine migrant shelters the city and county of Denver operates, I heard dozens of stories from people who risked life and limb to make a life in the United States. One man tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Mr. Mayor, look at me. I walked 3,000 miles to be here. I have powerful hands, a strong back and a big heart. I can do any job to help this city, all I want is a job.”
In just the six months since I was sworn in as the mayor of Denver, the number of migrants needing shelter in our city has increased by more than 1,000%. We’ve already sheltered tens of thousands of newcomers and spent tens of millions of dollars to manage this influx. But while the scale of the issue is daunting, here in Denver, we know that the problem is solvable.
Every migrant I speak to tells me they don’t want any charity; they just want to work.
Our current immigration system simply isn’t working. Today, when someone arrives at the southern U.S. border seeking asylum with a valid asylum claim, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott puts them on buses to a city they never planned on going to. These buses often arrive in the middle of the night, leaving women and children in the freezing cold.
Americans of every political ideology can agree that this is a broken system. Every migrant I speak to tells me they don’t want any charity; they just want to work. When I speak to conservative business leaders, they say the same thing: Newcomers should work; I have open jobs; let me hire them. Migrants in our cities want to work and businesses want to hire them, yet the federal government continues to stand in the way of a common-sense solution. Congress must take steps that will resolve this humanitarian crisis for asylum-seekers and prevent a fiscal crisis for cities.
If we perpetuate the status quo, we will force local governments either to pay for perpetual public services for unemployed migrants, overwhelming city and state budgets, or cut back services for migrants…
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