Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced he was reversing course on immigrant busing to other Democratic-led cities after conversations with the cities’ mayors.
The Democratic governor announced on Tuesday the plan to bus immigrants to Chicago and New York City, saying that most of the immigrants that were dropped off in Colorado did not plan for the state to be their final destination. On Saturday, however, he announced that he would discontinue the practice following discussions with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Mayor Eric Adams.
DEMOCRATIC COLORADO GOVERNOR DEFENDS BUSING IMMIGRANTS TO OTHER STATES
“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,” a press release from Polis’s office read.
“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,” the press release stated.
It went on to urge the Biden administration to do more to help states affected by the immigrant crisis and to pass immigration reform.
Despite the backtracking on previous defenses of Colorado’s busing policy, the release still echoed Polis’s previous explanation that busing was different than that of Republican states because it was actually helping immigrants reach their final destination.
“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,” the release quoted Polis as saying.
Adams and Lightfoot released a joint open letter on Saturday decrying Polis’s new policy of busing immigrants to their cities.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Although we share the concerns of accommodating the flood of asylum seekers, overburdening other cities is not the solution. We respectfully demand that you cease and desist sending migrants to New York City and Chicago,” the letter read. “Before the first bus arrived in either of our cities, we informed a Colorado official directly that neither city had any additional room to accommodate any more migrants because of the thousands of migrants that had already been inhumanely bused to our respective cities from Texas since spring of 2022.”
