Aurora’s city government wants to make clear that it has no plans to take in or provide services for an influx of migrants coming into the city from other municipalities, according to a resolution that the City Council passed on Monday night.
The resolution, which also included people who are homeless getting transported to Aurora from other cities, passed on a 7-3 vote, despite most public commenters on the issue urging council members to reject it.
“The City Council affirms remaining a Non-Sanctuary City and asserts the City does not currently have the financial capacity to fund new services related to this crisis and demands that other municipalities and entities do not systematically transport migrants or people experiencing homelessness to the City,” the resolution states.
The resolution also included a call to the federal government to “secure our nation’s borders.”
Denver began seeing droves of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, coming to the city starting in December 2022, and has since served nearly 39,000 people. But because the federal government has not provided enough resources or funding to help with the city’s response, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced city budget cuts to offset spending.
Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, one of the Aurora resolution’s sponsors, said she considers it inhumane to bus migrants from other cities to Aurora, particularly as some migrants don’t seem to know where they’re being dropped off, and that Aurora doesn’t have the funding to support such an influx.
“I don’t know if the Denver residents are OK with their rec centers being scaled back and shut down and their hours cut and the DMV shut down every other week now, but here in Aurora, we’re not shutting down our rec centers,” she said. “We’re not doing any of that, and we don’t have a county budget to sustain it.”
But Councilwoman Crystal Murillo said she opposes the whole premise of the resolution and said it’s sending “signals of fear and doubt” to people who need help and to the individuals and organizations working to address the migrant crisis, especially since it has no real enforcement mechanism.
“I’m concerned that this is spreading a narrative of fear that we are pitting groups of marginalized communities, people in need, against one another,” she said.
Opponents thanked the sponsors for their willingness to make changes to the resolution from its first introduction in a council committee, but said the message the resolution only serves to scare newcomers, especially because the city of Aurora isn’t funding services for migrants anyway. Council member Alison Coombs called it political posturing using anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The council’s conservative majority, however, decried those criticisms, before ultimately voting in favor of the resolution.
“… the citizens of Aurora elected us to be good steward of your dollars, to be good stewards of the resources (to serve) the community to the best of our ability,” Councilwoman Stephanie Hancock said. “Now, you’re not going to like everything that happens, but this resolution simply states that we need to be good stewards of our resources.”