DENVER - The State of Colorado has been assisting the city of Denver and partnering with nonprofits to help migrants fleeing violence and oppression reach their desired final destination. These actions have been conducted in a culturally competent manner, in the most humane possible way, and in coordination with the emergency operations teams in the receiving communities.

Throughout this undertaking, the state of Colorado’s emergency management team has been coordinating with emergency management teams in New York and Illinois as well as with local immigrant service organizations in those states through Colorado’s partner organizations. Those efforts have been successful in alleviating a backlog due to recent weather-related travel cancellations that wreaked havoc across the country during the holiday season.

“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. We refuse to keep people against their will if they desire to travel elsewhere. While the federal government and Congress, unfortunately, have failed the American people on immigration reform and border security, Colorado continues to assure culturally competent and humane support to help assist migrants escaping oppression,” said Governor Polis. 

Also, the Governor had a very productive conversation with Mayor Adams and Mayor Lightfoot today where he shared that there are no more buses scheduled for migrants from Denver to Chicago at this time, and the final chartered transportation to New York City will be successfully completed tomorrow. The state is partnering with the city of Denver and non-profits to continue assisting the city of Denver 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.

Governor Polis has been clear that Congress and the Biden-Harris administration must assist states who are facing these challenges through no fault of their own and looks forward to partnering with the federal government to provide work permits for migrants who want to contribute to Colorado’s thriving economy, and enact better border security and finally pass real immigration reform.