Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced Sunday that his state will stop sending migrants to New York City and Chicago after those cities’ Democratic mayors told Polis they were becoming overwhelmed with the number of people arriving in their jurisdictions.
“People fleeing violence and oppression in search of a better life for themselves and their families deserve our respect not political games and we are grateful we have been able to assist migrants to reach their final destination,” Polis said in a statement released Sunday. “We refuse to keep people against their will if they desire to travel elsewhere.”
Polis’s office said he had “productive” conversations with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and informed them that no more chartered migrant buses would be heading from Denver to Chicago or New York after tomorrow.
Adams and Lightfoot wrote to Polis the day before asking him to halt busing migrants to their respective cities because they are “over capacity,” Politico reported. In the joint letter, the mayors urged Polis to work with them to help resolve the situation.
“In the case of family reunification, let us work together to ensure that people are reconnected with their loved ones, however sending migrants to our cities whose systems are over capacity, where they may struggle to find shelter and other services is wrong and further victimizes these most vulnerable individuals,” the letter reads.
Adams on Tuesday said he was notified that Colorado was planning to send more migrants to cities like New York, which he called “just unfair.”
“There is no more room at the inn,” Adams told WABC.
The statement from the governor’s office indicated the state would partner with the city of Denver and nonprofits to “continue to ensure this process is being conducted in a humane manner.”
“Now that nationwide travel has returned to the status quo because the holidays and the impact of weather have normalized transportation pathways, Colorado has been in the process of scaling back this transportation,” the statement read.
The city of Denver declared a state of emergency last month over the influx of migrants traveling to the city.