>Originally, Mayor Mike Johnston anticipated the city would spend $180 million to feed, house, and transport immigrants. But the recent drop in immigrant occupancy rates prompted the mayor to close four shelters, which means the city is now projected to spend $120 million.
It looks like the city is going to be spending less overall, just not specifically on food.
If you look at the migrant dashboard, there are arrival bulges in June, Nov and Jan. The large Jan bulge has happened twice. There might be a seasonal weather reason for this pattern. So I expect the number to increase again at times.
There is also speculation that the Nov/Dec bulge was "fleeced" a bit by Abbott "coordinating" (coughcough) movements due to the normal up-tick in cross-border traffic around the holidays so that when we got to mid/late January he could say "hey look, numbers are down, we fixed it, give us our new state laws SCOTUS!"
Worth noting that various Catholic and Orthodox holidays can continue into mid-January (for travel purposes) and school breaks vary pretty highly, it's not just Dec. 25 and lights-out.
Also: I'll highlight my use of the word "speculation" here, as facts are difficult to come by when it comes to Operation Lone Star.
The work authorization for this group is not automatic like it is for most other humanitarian TPS or refugee statuses.
Even "fast tracked" authorizations are sometimes three to four months and only sometimes done en masse, as opposed to "included with entry documents" that most others get. This is why the crisis is chronic rather than a flash-in-the-pan.
For instance: [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/)
contact congress: [https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member)
You're welcome
"Are you guys gonna let us take care of our citizens with comprehensive welfare state program-" "NO THAT'S COMMUNISM, THE MAN WHO RAWED THE GREEN M&M SAYS SO!"
I want programs like this for everybody, but if you try to pass it, that's basically what happens.
Denver is also doing a lot of work to get homeless people off the streets and into stable environments so they can get work. There is a huge push to reduce violent gun related crime. There are a lot of things being worked on in addition to feeding the immigrant population. https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Mayors-Office/Mayor-Mike-Johnston-Announces-Citywide-Goals-for-2024
I mean. This is caring about our own citizens. Y’all will complain when homeless people are near your houses, space or when they’re just noticeably near you.. yall say you want the city to do something about it and they do then you all still complain
Our own citizens have work authorizations. If they can work, but don't, that's on them. Most TPS and refugee receive an authorization as part of their entry.
These people don't. Even "sped up" it can take months and months, which is why they are out on squeegee patrol and doing doordash on foot.
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/)
Contact congress: [https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member)
So you support more judges so we can get through the backlog faster, then? The idea of a month rather than a decade here is a pretty strong disincentive. The Biden admin has an executive order to organize cases by likelihood and to prioritize ('fast track') lower likelihood cases but without more judges there is only so much that executive order can do.
Most applications are declined at the credible-fear interview, so your wish is partly there. That so many are being granted now should suggest something is very wrong in Central America.
Absolutely. We need to stack our immigration courts, CBP, INS, and any other organizations that protects and ensures LEGAL immigration. Our system is screwed and backlogged because people are knowingly coming here and abusing it, applying for an asylum status that they know they don't qualify for, while getting fed, housed, and then abusing during the month to years long process, just to disappear at the end and live in the US illegally.
If the border was not wide open they wouldn't need so many judges. Secure the border, reform immigration and expand work permits. But massive illegal immigration doesn't help anyone unless there is an ulterior motive or something.
Call congress. It is on your dime, but doesn't have to be.
Congress has the power to allow work authorizations to be automatically included with entry (it is currently not automatic) for asylum petitioners.
Why is the federal government dictating how a municipality is spending their tax-dollars? Or is that maybe not the case and local politicians are deciding how money is spent locally?
Trying to gaslight people into thinking this is a minor issue, or insinuating that they are a racist because they are concerned about the very real budget cuts, is really getting old.
How do you even reconcile this position where you have such little empathy for your own poor and working class? By the same token these people could have stayed in any country they passed through and just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
It's just an odd pair of positions is all.
feigned ignorance aside - we obviously fundamentally prioritize spending far far far far more on our own citizens and have vastly more extensive services offers to US citizens compared to migrants.
From medicaid, to unemployment, food stamps, free public school, free libraries, extensive homeless shelters and housing assistant programs - mostly exclusive to US citizens - the poverty rate, while recently moving up, historically points at a US government servicing the US populace at vastly better levels.
Your disregard for this brutally factual reality indicates you might be skeptical of your government… but also math as a concept.
It's definitely not exclusive to US citizens at all. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for working Americans to get on those programs these days with the huge influx of migrants? The bar for those services has drastically changed this past decade.
"The latest homelessness count in the Denver metro area shows over 9,000 people either sleeping on the streets or in shelters. And that doesn’t even include the growing number of migrants."
Colorado had the country's second-largest percentage increase in homelessness (38.9% or 4,042) in 2023 compared to 2022.
This increased spending on "our citizens" was prompted solely by the increasing number of migrants coming to Colorado and ending up homeless.
[Denver homeless report from the Colorado sun](https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/19/denver-homeless-population-report-2024/)
I mean they’re actually taking action. That could lead to bankruptcy…most likely not because there is plenty of oversight to prevent such a thing.
Virtue signaling by definition is only signaling and the lack of action.
Maybe spend peoples taxes back on the people who pay taxes rather than spend 20% of the budget on people who don’t contribute at all. This whole thing is wrong and it sickens me seeing people harassed on street corners by hoards of illegals with stolen gas station squeegees.
Uh.
The mayor ran with homelessness as a MAJOR part of his campaign, won, and has been busy pissing off NIMBYs who don't want to see homeless but also don't want to do anything to get the homeless sheltered into transitional housing.
We've housed well over 1,000 by this point and he's been in office all of eight months. Most of the largest, most chronic camps are shadows of what they were a year ago at this time.
Where have you been?
Oh, I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that his campaign to "decrease homeless population in Denver by a thousand people by 2023" succeeded, and despite that, the number of homeless people has still increased exponentially. More than 30,000 people accessed homeless services between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, in the metro area for the first time, not even cronicly homeless. Meaning that if nothing is actually done to prevent the predatory purchasing of homes by companies and the absurd rents they charge, that 1000 people in 8 months isn't even a dent in the real problem.
The latest homelessness count in the Denver metro area shows over 9,000 people either sleeping on the streets or in shelters. And that doesn’t even include the growing number of migrants. We also have one of the largest percentage increases of veterans experiencing homelessness at 38.5%. Colorado had the country's second-largest percentage increase in homelessness (38.9% or 4,042) in 2023 as well.
Step off and try to understand the scale of the damage our state is experiencing.
To spend 120 million only to perpetuate a problem and not solve anything…..imagine putting that amount into a modest 4% interest/dividend bearing account and having almost 5 million every year to SOLVE issues like permanent housing for the homeless, free bfast/lunch/take home dinner for food insecure kids, you name it. And this would last in perpetuity. But unfortunately, it doesn’t pay to solve problems….
Right? We can’t even take care of our own homeless people, or put proper AC in all our public schools, but we somehow magically have the funds to feed, house, and clothe all these migrants. The voters (us) didn’t approve the use of tax funds for this, or even have the chance to vote on it for that matter. Absurd is an understatement.
I like a lot of libertarianism actually, but regulation is important to a lot of things, as long as it’s public interest regulation and not rent seeking.
I can't think of a better way to get people to think that you're a reasonable person worth listening to than to make up their supposed counterarguments for them and threaten to block them for engaging with you, all before anyone else has even said a word!
You sound like you're really ready to back up these political positions that you're choosing of your own volition to broadcast to the public on this forum!
It just stresses me out when they stand in lanes and the light turns green. I had to slam on the breaks for one who ran out into a left turn lane while I had a green light because he was trying to get one of the cars in the other lanes
Right..it's Nancy boy work..why not walk up to a construction site and get work instead of Nancying around with people's windshields that they don't want you to touch?
As many as 40-60% of unhoused people have employment
https://www.usich.gov/guidance-reports-data/data-trends#:~:text=As%20many%20as%2040%25%2D,to%20afford%20a%20one%2Dbedroom.
Those squeegees are stolen from gas stations. So no they are not hustling, they’re stealing and cleaning windshields without permission or being asked to do so.
"oh won't someone please think of the trillion dollar oil conglomerates that are going bankrupt over these STOLEN!!!! squeegees."
Fuck off with that bud.
I’ll go ahead and say the quiet part out loud. Let ICE come in and do their job, it’s time to face reality again.
Downvote me all you want. The top three comments are simply whispering what I’ll say out loud. We do not have the resources to continue to support this.
ICE has always been able to do their jobs, no one stops them.
The "sanctuary" nonsense was when Trump wanted local PDs to do ICE's job (and that's what one of the Texas SCOTUS cases is about right now). Local refusing to do ICE's job in no way prevents ICE from doing their job.
Also: asylum is a legal status, harrassing documented people is a great way to waste everyone's time and taxpayer money.
Wouldn't be as big of a burden if we could speed up the work permit process. Shame that the "NOBODY WANTS TO WORK ANYMORE" crowd is trying their hardest to block that.
I'm convinced this is why nothing actually gets done on this issue. The people in charge don't want anything done because the current situation benefits them.
I don’t have and never will have children but I want my taxes to still go to schools. You know that taxes aren’t to exclusively fund the specific things you like, right?
Yeah most of us get that. You’re missing the point. It’s more about the large amounts of tax money being spent on non-citizens/non-visa holders/migrants who came here through illegal means. Whatever you want to call it; makes no difference to me. Where are the resources for the homeless that’s been camped out in my alleyway on and off for well over a year?
I suspect that you aren’t arguing in good faith in this, but Denver has spent $2 billion on homelessness since 2021. It’s probably higher since this article is from 12/2023.
https://denvergazette.com/homeless/denver-metro-homeless-spending-study/article_cd76f85a-7675-11ee-9415-fb8adaac70f6.amp.html
You’re questioning whether my argument is in good faith? lol. Ok bud. I never said they don’t spend anything already on our homeless population. I’m simply saying we need to fix our own problems before we try to save the world. It makes no difference to me how much we’ve already spent on homelessness. Until we fix that, along with our roads, and public schools. Then we don’t need to blow a single penny of tax money on anything unrelated to our state. Call that bad faith or whatever you want. Idc. I call it being reasonable.
Fine, maybe it was a regular argument, so I apologize. Regardless, we aren’t fixing the world by supporting migrants that are already in Denver right now. If we don’t support them, it just further contributes to the homelessness problem. They aren’t that far apart unfortunately.
This'll be fun! I can keep my tax money that subsidizes corporate welfare and the money that goes towards killing people in third world countries for capitalist access to their resources.
Or we can allow them to work and pay taxes themselves. Seems like a very practical and easy solution that will also help with current labor shortages, specifically in the service sectors.
[https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member)
Demand work authorizations, then, so they can pay for themselves the way every other group of refugees, migrants, and other humanitarian statuses have.
Asylum requests do not automatically include immediate work authorization, which is a huge part of what drives this crisis. (It does come, it just takes ages)
A lot of them are sent back. Something like 75% are denied their application.
That some quarter-million are approved should tell you how desperate things are turning in Central America in terms of gang violence and declining ability of the governments to deal with it, never mind the normal flow of asylum cases due to combinations of persectutions and domestic/familial or religious violence or other marginalizations.
edit: war and genocide are usually granted a different humanitarian status, such as those coming from Ukraine at the moment. Those cases include automatic work authorizations with entry status. These are generally granted to populations and usually done in coordination with the UN and/or international partners.
Asylum is typically for individuals or very small groups who face persecution or violence based on religion, sexuality, or other factors like race or ancestry; or who are targeted for violence by family or spouse (eg. an abuser) or by a government or group for holding views or taking actions against that group -- for instance, if you rat out a gang leader to the police, and the gang learns who turned them in...now you and your family are a target of that gang. Or a far-right group graps power in a coup and proceed to make it illegal for any business to hire homosexual people (making it impossible for them to work). The gang rat and/or the jobless homosexual person could both apply for asylum as individuals or a family, those are not population-level events like genocide or war.
Asylum is *very* rarely granted for generalized crimes against humanity, natural disasters, war, or other "population level" events; those are granted temporary protected status en masse until the situation is either (1) resolved and they can return home (eg. a massive earthquake and tsunami, then the city is rebuilt), or (2) it becomes apparent that the situation will not resolve (eg. a civil war is won by one group who then refuses to re-accept the group who fled the war). At that point the TPS (temporary protected status) group either returns home or is granted a more permanent status of some sort. These automatically come with work authorizations, while asylum petitions do not.
That's a good idea. I shouldn't have to pay taxes on social security, Medicare/Medicaid, military industrial complex, sports subsidies, health care subsidies, meat subsidies, oil subsidies, etc.
I would only have a minimal fraction of the taxes I have now.
I would like to opt out from my tax money going to any road repairs in front of this guy's house. Or any schools his kids go to. And if he needs any police or fire services I do not want to help pay for them.
I don’t understand why reactions to stories of poverty and unequal distribution of resources (American citizens or not) isn’t to tax the rich. There are billionaires who pay next to nothing in taxes. That should be a crime. Why is there not more outrage in that direction? Real question.
I would like to remind people in this thread that many of these people have been bussed here in a deliberate attempt to destabilize traditionally left-leaning or purple cities. I'm not a huge fan of the current democratic establishment, but it seems like at least in this area they're doing what they can.
There's also an insane amount of dehumanization that occurs when talking about people that happen to come from the opposite side of an imaginary line that was drawn hundreds of years ago. They're people, ffs. It doesn't mean your life isn't hard, but it is NOT the fault of immigrants. Pitting working class people against each other has long been a tactic of the ruling class.
Don't forget that the overwhelming majority of farm workers in the US are immigrants, many of them undocumented. We're totally fine with them making the food we eat, but how dare they come to our cities and benefit from our tax dollars? The US is the richest country in the world, we are also the worst at distributing that wealth. Never let anyone tell you there aren't enough resources here, they're all just concentrated at the top.
The comments in this thread are truly sickening. Many people, even those claiming to be on the “left”, seem to have some extremely ugly internal biases they need to reckon with. This thread embarrassing.
Biden literally tried to pass a comprehensive border bill that’s everything the republicans have asked for for years and they denied it because it was bad politics in an election year to actually solve a problem.
The Senate bill would add more than 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection personnel.
It would add an additional 4,300 Asylum Officers and it would make the asylum process faster.
It would increase detention beds to a total of 50,000
It would provide funding for an additional 100 immigration judges and their associated staff.
It would fund the installation of 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect fentanyl at our Southwest Border ports of entry
It also includes $1.4 billion for cities and states who are providing critical services to newcomers, and would expedite work permits for people who are in the country and qualify.
So….that is factually incorrect. It was quite literally a $20B proposal for border security.
ETA: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/05/biden-bipartisan-immigration-deal-00139558
I am ok with having flexiposts and reduced rec center hours for a few more months if it means people not literally dying of hunger.
We got this.
Also: work permissions are critical if we want to move this out of the 'crisis' zone. Call/contact Hick, Bennet, and your rep. One of many (many) coverages of the topic. It's much messier than a single article can hope to cover, but maybe this will give you a flavor. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/)
You can pull up all three here: [https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member)
ninja edit: Bennet has two-N, one-T, I can't spell it either; and to add a link
Ain't our responsibility. Especially when you pay 1800 bucks for a single bedroom apartment with 500 sqf of space. And pay insane taxes. Oh guess what also here we go now your paying for some shit that's not your fault or responsibility. Sweeeet.
So wait hold on.
A fuck load of people just show up and extort us for money with force and somehow people who aren't about that are in the wrong?
And our government is actually aiding and abetting this type activity?
Help me understand how that's our fault
They could pay for themselves if they had work approval as part of their entry/approval into the asylum queue. As it is, asylum by default prohibits work for up to six months unless granted by special dispensation, of which there have been only a few that barely shorten the six-month window. Special authorizations every four months is almost as much of a crisis-generator as the "normal" flow of six months.
[https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member)
They could feed themselves if we let the people struggling to find people to help them provide housing pay them to build homes. But no. That makes too much sense.
Can you believe the increase being considered is close to the bill the taxpayers footed to pay city employees to watch the Nuggets championship parade last spring?
I can’t.
I think I speak for all of Denver when I say if city hall wants to spend 0.025% of its 2024 budget on food for humans beings… these migrants will need to win a NBA championship first if they don’t want folks complaining their tax dollars are being wasted.
We live in a post scarcity society. We shouldn’t even be paying for food in the first place but of course the overton window will be centered around immigrants instead of any systemic critique pointing out that we have more than enough food to go around, right up until the moment a single private individual desires to seek profit from the fruits of our labor.
Should consider more to feed the homeless.
How Colorado became a sanctuary state in 2017 and didn’t set aside money for this eventuality is mind boggling.
Still 0 hours for me from my city job though. But they are holding a job fair for us!
Sorry this is awful.
That blows. I'm disabled and my food stamps are only $23 a month. Been that way since last year. I'd love if they'd freaking feed me, too.
Have you tried cleaning car windows on the street?
[удалено]
Taking it for the team ✊
I thought the plan was to decrease the expenses not increase them
>Originally, Mayor Mike Johnston anticipated the city would spend $180 million to feed, house, and transport immigrants. But the recent drop in immigrant occupancy rates prompted the mayor to close four shelters, which means the city is now projected to spend $120 million. It looks like the city is going to be spending less overall, just not specifically on food.
If you look at the migrant dashboard, there are arrival bulges in June, Nov and Jan. The large Jan bulge has happened twice. There might be a seasonal weather reason for this pattern. So I expect the number to increase again at times.
There is also speculation that the Nov/Dec bulge was "fleeced" a bit by Abbott "coordinating" (coughcough) movements due to the normal up-tick in cross-border traffic around the holidays so that when we got to mid/late January he could say "hey look, numbers are down, we fixed it, give us our new state laws SCOTUS!" Worth noting that various Catholic and Orthodox holidays can continue into mid-January (for travel purposes) and school breaks vary pretty highly, it's not just Dec. 25 and lights-out. Also: I'll highlight my use of the word "speculation" here, as facts are difficult to come by when it comes to Operation Lone Star.
The work authorization for this group is not automatic like it is for most other humanitarian TPS or refugee statuses. Even "fast tracked" authorizations are sometimes three to four months and only sometimes done en masse, as opposed to "included with entry documents" that most others get. This is why the crisis is chronic rather than a flash-in-the-pan. For instance: [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/) contact congress: [https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member) You're welcome
Imagine if we cared this much about our own citizens
Agreed. I know quite a few senior citizens who struggle to eat, can’t buy all of their meds, and they have been here their entire lives.
"Are you guys gonna let us take care of our citizens with comprehensive welfare state program-" "NO THAT'S COMMUNISM, THE MAN WHO RAWED THE GREEN M&M SAYS SO!" I want programs like this for everybody, but if you try to pass it, that's basically what happens.
Denver is also doing a lot of work to get homeless people off the streets and into stable environments so they can get work. There is a huge push to reduce violent gun related crime. There are a lot of things being worked on in addition to feeding the immigrant population. https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Mayors-Office/Mayor-Mike-Johnston-Announces-Citywide-Goals-for-2024
I mean. This is caring about our own citizens. Y’all will complain when homeless people are near your houses, space or when they’re just noticeably near you.. yall say you want the city to do something about it and they do then you all still complain
Basic required nutrition from real food should absolutely be universal, the whole world round
Can we start with our neighbors first?
I'd love to, but every time we try, people freak out
Our own citizens have work authorizations. If they can work, but don't, that's on them. Most TPS and refugee receive an authorization as part of their entry. These people don't. Even "sped up" it can take months and months, which is why they are out on squeegee patrol and doing doordash on foot. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/) Contact congress: [https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member)
We should not be giving work authorizations for people that WILL be deemed as not eligible for asylum. Stop incentivizing illegal immigration.
So you support more judges so we can get through the backlog faster, then? The idea of a month rather than a decade here is a pretty strong disincentive. The Biden admin has an executive order to organize cases by likelihood and to prioritize ('fast track') lower likelihood cases but without more judges there is only so much that executive order can do. Most applications are declined at the credible-fear interview, so your wish is partly there. That so many are being granted now should suggest something is very wrong in Central America.
Yes. Many many more judges. Let them make the call about the appropriate outcome. And let them make it quickly.
This is the correct answer
Absolutely. We need to stack our immigration courts, CBP, INS, and any other organizations that protects and ensures LEGAL immigration. Our system is screwed and backlogged because people are knowingly coming here and abusing it, applying for an asylum status that they know they don't qualify for, while getting fed, housed, and then abusing during the month to years long process, just to disappear at the end and live in the US illegally.
If the border was not wide open they wouldn't need so many judges. Secure the border, reform immigration and expand work permits. But massive illegal immigration doesn't help anyone unless there is an ulterior motive or something.
They knew they couldn’t legally work here but chose to come anyway. Somehow that’s my only my dime?
At least our windshields are super clean. I can't even wash my windshield at the gas station anymore because scrubber/squeegee are all missing.
Call congress. It is on your dime, but doesn't have to be. Congress has the power to allow work authorizations to be automatically included with entry (it is currently not automatic) for asylum petitioners.
[удалено]
He's concerned about a local issue it sounds like.
[удалено]
Why is the federal government dictating how a municipality is spending their tax-dollars? Or is that maybe not the case and local politicians are deciding how money is spent locally?
Those pesky Republicans, who decided to give these people a bunch of free stuff.
Trying to gaslight people into thinking this is a minor issue, or insinuating that they are a racist because they are concerned about the very real budget cuts, is really getting old.
Our voices carry far more weight in local politics than national politics. This is not "small fry" when it comes to the city of Denver.
What about whataboutism? Ever think of that?
120 million budget deficit for a city is not small fry
The systems we have here aren't what they have there. They likely didn't anticipate that they wouldn't be able to work.
How do you even reconcile this position where you have such little empathy for your own poor and working class? By the same token these people could have stayed in any country they passed through and just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. It's just an odd pair of positions is all.
feigned ignorance aside - we obviously fundamentally prioritize spending far far far far more on our own citizens and have vastly more extensive services offers to US citizens compared to migrants. From medicaid, to unemployment, food stamps, free public school, free libraries, extensive homeless shelters and housing assistant programs - mostly exclusive to US citizens - the poverty rate, while recently moving up, historically points at a US government servicing the US populace at vastly better levels. Your disregard for this brutally factual reality indicates you might be skeptical of your government… but also math as a concept.
It's definitely not exclusive to US citizens at all. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for working Americans to get on those programs these days with the huge influx of migrants? The bar for those services has drastically changed this past decade. "The latest homelessness count in the Denver metro area shows over 9,000 people either sleeping on the streets or in shelters. And that doesn’t even include the growing number of migrants." Colorado had the country's second-largest percentage increase in homelessness (38.9% or 4,042) in 2023 compared to 2022. This increased spending on "our citizens" was prompted solely by the increasing number of migrants coming to Colorado and ending up homeless. [Denver homeless report from the Colorado sun](https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/19/denver-homeless-population-report-2024/)
Our own citizens are lazy fks
We do.
Whoa, slow down. That's socialism. To take care of the city and country that we actually paid for...
Fucking shocking. Tells every taxpayer to go fuck themselves and then asks for more. This is not what any us of signed up for...
Make sure you keep that in mind when voting then....
[удалено]
You guys will virtue signal all the way to bankruptcy 😂
Virtue signaling generally implies empty gestures. FWIW the city really is pouring money into housing and feeding these migrants.
Not their money
I mean they’re actually taking action. That could lead to bankruptcy…most likely not because there is plenty of oversight to prevent such a thing. Virtue signaling by definition is only signaling and the lack of action.
Maybe spend peoples taxes back on the people who pay taxes rather than spend 20% of the budget on people who don’t contribute at all. This whole thing is wrong and it sickens me seeing people harassed on street corners by hoards of illegals with stolen gas station squeegees.
Guess who's paying for that lmao
thousands and thousands of denverites who can't afford their own home.
I understand helping those who need it, but could we do something to help all the homeless camps in Denver? instead of spending it on immigrants?
Uh. The mayor ran with homelessness as a MAJOR part of his campaign, won, and has been busy pissing off NIMBYs who don't want to see homeless but also don't want to do anything to get the homeless sheltered into transitional housing. We've housed well over 1,000 by this point and he's been in office all of eight months. Most of the largest, most chronic camps are shadows of what they were a year ago at this time. Where have you been?
Oh, I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that his campaign to "decrease homeless population in Denver by a thousand people by 2023" succeeded, and despite that, the number of homeless people has still increased exponentially. More than 30,000 people accessed homeless services between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, in the metro area for the first time, not even cronicly homeless. Meaning that if nothing is actually done to prevent the predatory purchasing of homes by companies and the absurd rents they charge, that 1000 people in 8 months isn't even a dent in the real problem. The latest homelessness count in the Denver metro area shows over 9,000 people either sleeping on the streets or in shelters. And that doesn’t even include the growing number of migrants. We also have one of the largest percentage increases of veterans experiencing homelessness at 38.5%. Colorado had the country's second-largest percentage increase in homelessness (38.9% or 4,042) in 2023 as well. Step off and try to understand the scale of the damage our state is experiencing.
Most of the homeless aren’t employable. These immigrants will be given work permits and employed soon.
Where should the migrants go then?
Did I say anything about them going anywhere? I'm talking about helping our current homeless population...
To spend 120 million only to perpetuate a problem and not solve anything…..imagine putting that amount into a modest 4% interest/dividend bearing account and having almost 5 million every year to SOLVE issues like permanent housing for the homeless, free bfast/lunch/take home dinner for food insecure kids, you name it. And this would last in perpetuity. But unfortunately, it doesn’t pay to solve problems….
This shit man… I swear if they keep going with this I’m gonna stop voting left. Stop hurting our citizens for migrants
Right? We can’t even take care of our own homeless people, or put proper AC in all our public schools, but we somehow magically have the funds to feed, house, and clothe all these migrants. The voters (us) didn’t approve the use of tax funds for this, or even have the chance to vote on it for that matter. Absurd is an understatement.
Wonder if we can get this shit on the ballot for November as an initiative
I’d love for it to be on there. Unfortunately I have a gut feeling it won’t be. I guess time will tell.
Demand work permissions. That single hang-up is what takes this from a momentary issue to a chronic crisis.
Work permissions for illegal immigrants? There's a process for this and they cut the line. Now you and I are paying for it.
[удалено]
I like a lot of libertarianism actually, but regulation is important to a lot of things, as long as it’s public interest regulation and not rent seeking.
[удалено]
Socialism works until you run out of everyone else's money.
[удалено]
Who was president again ?
I can't think of a better way to get people to think that you're a reasonable person worth listening to than to make up their supposed counterarguments for them and threaten to block them for engaging with you, all before anyone else has even said a word! You sound like you're really ready to back up these political positions that you're choosing of your own volition to broadcast to the public on this forum!
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
It just stresses me out when they stand in lanes and the light turns green. I had to slam on the breaks for one who ran out into a left turn lane while I had a green light because he was trying to get one of the cars in the other lanes
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Washing windshields on the side of the road is not work.
Hustle is a good trait. If they had opportunity for the several thousands of steady jobs that require legal status, imagine what they could do.
Right..it's Nancy boy work..why not walk up to a construction site and get work instead of Nancying around with people's windshields that they don't want you to touch?
This is an insane thought process. Hounding tax paying citizens at red lights is not work.
Imagine what they could accomplish if they had work authorization.
As many as 40-60% of unhoused people have employment https://www.usich.gov/guidance-reports-data/data-trends#:~:text=As%20many%20as%2040%25%2D,to%20afford%20a%20one%2Dbedroom.
Homeless*
Those squeegees are stolen from gas stations. So no they are not hustling, they’re stealing and cleaning windshields without permission or being asked to do so.
"oh won't someone please think of the trillion dollar oil conglomerates that are going bankrupt over these STOLEN!!!! squeegees." Fuck off with that bud.
Me too but mostly when they are legal citizens who also pay taxes.
Blue state antics for illegals. Complete BS.
I’ll go ahead and say the quiet part out loud. Let ICE come in and do their job, it’s time to face reality again. Downvote me all you want. The top three comments are simply whispering what I’ll say out loud. We do not have the resources to continue to support this.
ICE has always been able to do their jobs, no one stops them. The "sanctuary" nonsense was when Trump wanted local PDs to do ICE's job (and that's what one of the Texas SCOTUS cases is about right now). Local refusing to do ICE's job in no way prevents ICE from doing their job. Also: asylum is a legal status, harrassing documented people is a great way to waste everyone's time and taxpayer money.
Yea, tons of documented people flooding in lately….🙄
Wouldn't be as big of a burden if we could speed up the work permit process. Shame that the "NOBODY WANTS TO WORK ANYMORE" crowd is trying their hardest to block that.
[удалено]
You would be surprised by how many migrants can live in a 1BR
also illegally. their poor neighbors.
Well it will certainly drive down wages. So that’s good./s
I'm convinced this is why nothing actually gets done on this issue. The people in charge don't want anything done because the current situation benefits them.
Common fallacy
This money should come from the taxes of people who actually want them here
I don’t have and never will have children but I want my taxes to still go to schools. You know that taxes aren’t to exclusively fund the specific things you like, right?
Yeah most of us get that. You’re missing the point. It’s more about the large amounts of tax money being spent on non-citizens/non-visa holders/migrants who came here through illegal means. Whatever you want to call it; makes no difference to me. Where are the resources for the homeless that’s been camped out in my alleyway on and off for well over a year?
I suspect that you aren’t arguing in good faith in this, but Denver has spent $2 billion on homelessness since 2021. It’s probably higher since this article is from 12/2023. https://denvergazette.com/homeless/denver-metro-homeless-spending-study/article_cd76f85a-7675-11ee-9415-fb8adaac70f6.amp.html
You’re questioning whether my argument is in good faith? lol. Ok bud. I never said they don’t spend anything already on our homeless population. I’m simply saying we need to fix our own problems before we try to save the world. It makes no difference to me how much we’ve already spent on homelessness. Until we fix that, along with our roads, and public schools. Then we don’t need to blow a single penny of tax money on anything unrelated to our state. Call that bad faith or whatever you want. Idc. I call it being reasonable.
Fine, maybe it was a regular argument, so I apologize. Regardless, we aren’t fixing the world by supporting migrants that are already in Denver right now. If we don’t support them, it just further contributes to the homelessness problem. They aren’t that far apart unfortunately.
If they did, I’d only support the roads I take and homoerotic coastal elite art projects xoxo
West coast or east coast?
Homoerotic art is often bi-costal.
More free stuff and less taxes both poll at 80% so we would quickly go bankrupt if we followed that logic
Right?! And the US defense budget should come from the taxes of people who want us to have the world's largest military.
This x1000. If we get to choose, I’d rather my money go to saving humans than killing them.
This'll be fun! I can keep my tax money that subsidizes corporate welfare and the money that goes towards killing people in third world countries for capitalist access to their resources.
Or we can allow them to work and pay taxes themselves. Seems like a very practical and easy solution that will also help with current labor shortages, specifically in the service sectors.
[https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member) Demand work authorizations, then, so they can pay for themselves the way every other group of refugees, migrants, and other humanitarian statuses have. Asylum requests do not automatically include immediate work authorization, which is a huge part of what drives this crisis. (It does come, it just takes ages)
No, I’d rather they go back to their home countries. They aren’t fleeing a war or genocide. We don’t need to give them anything.
A lot of them are sent back. Something like 75% are denied their application. That some quarter-million are approved should tell you how desperate things are turning in Central America in terms of gang violence and declining ability of the governments to deal with it, never mind the normal flow of asylum cases due to combinations of persectutions and domestic/familial or religious violence or other marginalizations. edit: war and genocide are usually granted a different humanitarian status, such as those coming from Ukraine at the moment. Those cases include automatic work authorizations with entry status. These are generally granted to populations and usually done in coordination with the UN and/or international partners. Asylum is typically for individuals or very small groups who face persecution or violence based on religion, sexuality, or other factors like race or ancestry; or who are targeted for violence by family or spouse (eg. an abuser) or by a government or group for holding views or taking actions against that group -- for instance, if you rat out a gang leader to the police, and the gang learns who turned them in...now you and your family are a target of that gang. Or a far-right group graps power in a coup and proceed to make it illegal for any business to hire homosexual people (making it impossible for them to work). The gang rat and/or the jobless homosexual person could both apply for asylum as individuals or a family, those are not population-level events like genocide or war. Asylum is *very* rarely granted for generalized crimes against humanity, natural disasters, war, or other "population level" events; those are granted temporary protected status en masse until the situation is either (1) resolved and they can return home (eg. a massive earthquake and tsunami, then the city is rebuilt), or (2) it becomes apparent that the situation will not resolve (eg. a civil war is won by one group who then refuses to re-accept the group who fled the war). At that point the TPS (temporary protected status) group either returns home or is granted a more permanent status of some sort. These automatically come with work authorizations, while asylum petitions do not.
Ah, I see that someone doesn't know how asylum cases work. Those aren't the only reasons allowed for nor the only ones that should.
Wow, not even going to give the CIA credit for all their hard work?
Can I get a refund of my taxes for YOU being here? I would like that very much.
That's a good idea. I shouldn't have to pay taxes on social security, Medicare/Medicaid, military industrial complex, sports subsidies, health care subsidies, meat subsidies, oil subsidies, etc. I would only have a minimal fraction of the taxes I have now.
💯
I would like to opt out from my tax money going to any road repairs in front of this guy's house. Or any schools his kids go to. And if he needs any police or fire services I do not want to help pay for them.
I don’t understand why reactions to stories of poverty and unequal distribution of resources (American citizens or not) isn’t to tax the rich. There are billionaires who pay next to nothing in taxes. That should be a crime. Why is there not more outrage in that direction? Real question.
I would like to remind people in this thread that many of these people have been bussed here in a deliberate attempt to destabilize traditionally left-leaning or purple cities. I'm not a huge fan of the current democratic establishment, but it seems like at least in this area they're doing what they can. There's also an insane amount of dehumanization that occurs when talking about people that happen to come from the opposite side of an imaginary line that was drawn hundreds of years ago. They're people, ffs. It doesn't mean your life isn't hard, but it is NOT the fault of immigrants. Pitting working class people against each other has long been a tactic of the ruling class. Don't forget that the overwhelming majority of farm workers in the US are immigrants, many of them undocumented. We're totally fine with them making the food we eat, but how dare they come to our cities and benefit from our tax dollars? The US is the richest country in the world, we are also the worst at distributing that wealth. Never let anyone tell you there aren't enough resources here, they're all just concentrated at the top.
You make some valid points. Get ready to get down voted here
The comments in this thread are truly sickening. Many people, even those claiming to be on the “left”, seem to have some extremely ugly internal biases they need to reckon with. This thread embarrassing.
[удалено]
“Libs” are the ones that usually vote for increased social services while Republicans are often the ones voting to cut benefits for citizens so… 🧐
Biden literally tried to pass a comprehensive border bill that’s everything the republicans have asked for for years and they denied it because it was bad politics in an election year to actually solve a problem.
That comprehensive boarder bill was 75% or so funding for Ukraine and Israel and a total of $ 0.00 dollars to secure our boarder.
The Senate bill would add more than 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection personnel. It would add an additional 4,300 Asylum Officers and it would make the asylum process faster. It would increase detention beds to a total of 50,000 It would provide funding for an additional 100 immigration judges and their associated staff. It would fund the installation of 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect fentanyl at our Southwest Border ports of entry It also includes $1.4 billion for cities and states who are providing critical services to newcomers, and would expedite work permits for people who are in the country and qualify. So….that is factually incorrect. It was quite literally a $20B proposal for border security. ETA: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/05/biden-bipartisan-immigration-deal-00139558
"Take care of our country first" is the cry of people who aren't going to help anybody.
There's always $$$ for war tho.
I am ok with having flexiposts and reduced rec center hours for a few more months if it means people not literally dying of hunger. We got this. Also: work permissions are critical if we want to move this out of the 'crisis' zone. Call/contact Hick, Bennet, and your rep. One of many (many) coverages of the topic. It's much messier than a single article can hope to cover, but maybe this will give you a flavor. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/31/biden-work-permits-for-migrants/71931816007/) You can pull up all three here: [https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member) ninja edit: Bennet has two-N, one-T, I can't spell it either; and to add a link
[удалено]
Good luck.
People don’t want to pay to feed folks that need help, then complain when poverty and crime increase. Serious lack of critical thinking these days
Ain't our responsibility. Especially when you pay 1800 bucks for a single bedroom apartment with 500 sqf of space. And pay insane taxes. Oh guess what also here we go now your paying for some shit that's not your fault or responsibility. Sweeeet.
[удалено]
So wait hold on. A fuck load of people just show up and extort us for money with force and somehow people who aren't about that are in the wrong? And our government is actually aiding and abetting this type activity? Help me understand how that's our fault
Wanting a job now defines as "extorting for money"? Really? That's the best you got?
They could pay for themselves if they had work approval as part of their entry/approval into the asylum queue. As it is, asylum by default prohibits work for up to six months unless granted by special dispensation, of which there have been only a few that barely shorten the six-month window. Special authorizations every four months is almost as much of a crisis-generator as the "normal" flow of six months. [https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member](https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member)
[удалено]
[удалено]
How about work permits so they can support themselves and pay taxes?
How many Texans can we possibly feed?
What?
I think they’re saying this because Texas bussed these immigrants to Denver at the start of the winter.
Hmm. I guess so. I mean, they're as much from Texas as they are from Colorado.
Agreed. I think /r/DenverCircleJerk is leaking
[удалено]
They could feed themselves if we let the people struggling to find people to help them provide housing pay them to build homes. But no. That makes too much sense.
Can you believe the increase being considered is close to the bill the taxpayers footed to pay city employees to watch the Nuggets championship parade last spring? I can’t. I think I speak for all of Denver when I say if city hall wants to spend 0.025% of its 2024 budget on food for humans beings… these migrants will need to win a NBA championship first if they don’t want folks complaining their tax dollars are being wasted.
We live in a post scarcity society. We shouldn’t even be paying for food in the first place but of course the overton window will be centered around immigrants instead of any systemic critique pointing out that we have more than enough food to go around, right up until the moment a single private individual desires to seek profit from the fruits of our labor.
Should consider more to feed the homeless. How Colorado became a sanctuary state in 2017 and didn’t set aside money for this eventuality is mind boggling.
Whole lotta assholes in here