Gov. Polis’ administration appears to have intended to but failed to notify cities in advance of transporting immigrants from Denver out of state, emails obtained by The Denver Gazette show. The emails make clear that the administration knew the immigrants were going to other cities because officials asked the immigrants to verify on a waiver informing intended host cities they might need help once they were transported out of Denver.
It is still unclear when exactly the state stepped in to help Denver with a backlog of immigrants trapped in the city by sub-zero temperatures that had halted travel around the Christmas holiday.
But it appears the effort was well underway before the state looped in New York City officials.
The newspaper requested, under the Colorado Open Records Act, the communications to and from the governor’s office after New York City Mayor Eric Adams publicly criticized Gov. Jared Polis for transporting migrants to his city last month.
The Denver Gazette also requested the same information from Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s office.
On Dec. 29, Maria De Cambra, director of communications and community engagement in the governor's office, indicated in an email that the state was "partnering with Denver to provide migrant intake, processing and transportation coordination to help migrants reach their final destination."
A separate email from the Colorado Office of Emergency Management on Dec. 29 indicates the state intended to begin “their transition with Denver staff tomorrow afternoon (Dec. 30) and through the weekend.”
Gov. Jared Polis has previously confirmed that the state stepped in to help transport immigrants to their "desired destination" — meaning cities in other states.
Five days later on Jan. 3 — about an hour and half before Polis announced publicly the state was assisting Denver — a policy advisor with Squire Patton Boggs sent an email introducing the governor’s office to staffers for Adams’, the New York City’s mayor.
Colorado officials appear to have only contacted New York City officials, who have welcomed more than 36,000 immigrants since April.
Officials in Chicago, Miami, Atlanta and other gateway cities for immigrants do not appear to have been notified, according to a review of state and city emails.
As of early January, Denver had provided bus tickets to 1,900 grants to more than 100 cities in 35 states, according to city data.
It is unclear how many the state bused. Conor Cahill, a Polis spokesperson, said that the state spent $607,137 funding its effort.
In the wake of political stunts by Republican governors who transported migrants to Democratic-led states, Colorado officials were deeply concerned about immigrants leaving of their own accord rather than thinking they were being forced to leave, unlike when Florida’s Ron DeSantis flew migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last year.
“We want to make sure that the migrants getting on the buses are indeed wanting to go to another final destination,” De Cambra, in the governor’s office, wrote in a Jan. 1 email.
To ensure this, state officials proposed making immigrants check boxes on a waiver.
Language discussed in emails, though, proposed that immigrants agree they had a choice of whether they remained in Colorado or traveled to another U.S. city. The suggested language also asked immigrants to “indicate if you will need support at your final destination from the city.”
“This will also ensure that we can let the final destination know if they will require support from them when they arrive or not,” De Cambra wrote.
The response from Democratic mayors was swift.
“Before the first bus arrived in either of our cities, we informed a Colorado official directly that neither city had any additional room to accommodate any more migrants because of the thousands of migrants that had already been inhumanely bused to our respective cities from Texas since spring of 2022,” Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote in an open letter on Jan. 7.
Adams and Lightfoot urged Polis stop busing immigrants to their cities.
The humanitarian crisis in Denver is emblematic of the one that's been unfolding for months along the southern border, which is now spilling over to other non-border states.
Immigrants have long found their home in Denver.
About three in 20 county residents identify as immigrant or refugee, according to Denver’s Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Office for Human Rights & Community Partnerships
But the issue did not become a crisis until the city saw nearly 100 immigrants from South and Central America dropped off downtown at Union Station in the dead of winter.
A little more than a week into the city’s response, when Denver had welcomed about 400 immigrants and spent about $800,000, Hancock issued an emergency declaration saying the crisis had placed an “immense strain on city resources.”
Denver has since spent about $5.2 million, according to city officials.
More than 4,200 immigrants — mostly from Venezuela — have since come to the Mile High City.
City and state officials estimate about 70% of the newly arrived immigrants will not stay in Denver.
Of those Denver helped transport out of state, immigrants chose 114 different U.S. cities in 35 states and Washington D.C. as their final destination.
It’s unknown how many the state bused or where.
Conor Cahill, a Polis spokesperson, did not respond to the Denver Gazette’s inquiry.
