(NewsNation) — A Denver official told a group of migrants to leave for Chicago and New York City or else they would “suffer” due to dwindling resources and because “opportunities are over” for them in the city.
Andres Carrera, Denver’s newcomer communications liaison and political director for Mayor Mike Johnson, told a large group of newly arrived migrants in Spanish last month that it is in their best interest to leave, a video obtained by KUSA, showed.
“If you stay here you are going to suffer even more and I don’t want to see this,” he tells the group. “The opportunities are over…New York gives you more. Chicago gives you more. So I suggest you go there where there is longer-term shelter. There are also more job opportunities there.”
He also tells them that the city will give them free tickets to “any city” including up to the Canadian border.
“We are not going to block you if you want to stay here,” Carrera said in the video.
The city has contended with a swelling migrant population, stretching it to a breaking point.
Denver, along with Chicago and New York, have received an influx of migrants that have been bused from the Texas border to sanctuary cities by Gov. Gregg Abbott.
The city of Denver defended Carrera, saying that “encouraging onward travel to destinations where newcomers may have support networks or better opportunities are a critical part” of the city’s long-term strategy, Jordan Fuja, the city’s press secretary, said in a statement to NewsNation.
Fuja said that Denver has provided travel to nearly 20,000 individuals who came to the city but that messaging to leave ramped up in February due to dwindling resources and meager opportunities for work and housing.
“Denver does not have the resources or capacity to maintain this outsized share of the load,” Fuja said, adding that the city has received the most people per capita.
Fuja also stated over 40,000 migrants have come to Denver, amounting to 5.6 percent of the city’s total population and that Carrera referenced Chicago and New York City because those cities were specifically asked about before his talk.
It is unclear whether Chicago and New York are on board with Denver’s redirection. The mayors’ offices in both cities did not immediately return a request for comment from NewsNation.
Both cities are themselves stretched thin with an influx of migrants.
Since August 2022, Chicago has received over 38,000 migrants, city data showed.
This has come with a host of housing and health issues that have become a flashpoint for the city.
A measles outbreak inside Chicago’s largest migrant shelter has residents living in the facility on edge, anxious about potentially getting sick while in reportedly “unlivable” conditions, according to a shelter volunteer.
Health officials have reported 53 measles cases in and around Chicago, the majority in the shelter in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. According to a city spokesperson, the neighborhood is home to 1,256 migrants.
New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, said last month that the city has received about 180,000 migrants since 2022 and has spent more than $2 billion to care for them.
“This issue will destroy New York City,” Adams has said.