Hundreds of migrants move to Denver in less than 24 hours, resources becoming limited
In less than 24 hours, 16 busloads of migrants arrived in Denver.
The City of Denver confirms with CBS News Colorado, that nine busloads arrived Thursday night and seven more on Friday. Overall, there are 3,800 right now in shelters. This comes around a time when more than 10,000 migrants crossed the southern border into the United States each of the last three days.
The city tells CBS News Colorado there are at least 340 migrants that have been dropped off in Denver since Thursday night. Many arrived from Texas, but their original places of origin include Venezuela, Columbia and Guatemala. This is an area they have never been to before. With them filling up the Zuni and Speer area, one woman tells CBS News Colorado it's been difficult having them near the place she works. She says she tried to help them, but she did not get a good response.
"They speak bad to me," Gerena said. "I am the only one that speaks Spanish. I tried to help them. I tried to explain the rules, but they don't like it. There are too many people. They are so bad with me and with my boss."
As more migrants move to Denver, the city tells CBS News Colorado resources are dwindling.
"We can run out of room," Jon Ewing said, Spokesperson, Denver Human Services. "We can run out of resources. We are already limited as it is. It strains an already strained system even further."
With the shelters reaching capacity, the city is working to find migrants jobs. The city tells CBS News Colorado they are doing whatever they can to keep everyone off the streets, especially children.
"We know that everything is much more difficult with a child," said Ewing. "This is why we have given families more time. We don't want children on the streets. We don't want anyone on the streets."
Gerena tells CBS News Colorado she is thankful for the city's help, but resources need to come faster for these migrants, who are making it harder for her every day.
"We have to take the stick to clean the window because they steal every night," Gerena said.
The city tells CBS News Colorado more busloads of migrants could arrive over the Christmas weekend but at this time, they are unsure of how many and when. When that time comes, they may have to open up an eighth shelter in the city.
