DENVER -- As weary migrants arrive in Denver on buses from the U.S.-Mexico border city of El Paso, Texas, officials offer them two options: temporary shelter or a bus ticket out.
Nearly half of the 27,000 migrants who arrived in Denver since November 2022 have chosen the bus, plane or train tickets to other cities in the United States, city data show. In New York and Illinois, taxpayer dollars also are being spent on tickets, creating a shuffle of migrants in the interior U.S. who need shelter, food and medical assistance as they await rulings on asylum cases that can take years.
The transfer of migrants has gained momentum since Republican governors in Texas and Florida started chartering buses and planes to Democratic-led cities in what critics initially waved off as political stunts. More than a year later, some of those cities, their resources dwindling, are eager to help migrants move on to their final destinations.
The efforts show the increased pressures cities are facing as more migrants from around the globe are coming to the U.S. southern border, often fleeing economic turmoil. Illegal border crossings topped 2 million during the government's fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the second-highest number on record.
With many migrants in shelters or living on the street, the next phase of the challenge is getting them to their families, friends or court cases, said Mario Russell, director at the Center for Migration Studies of New York.
That "has been in a sense dropped into the laps of interior cities without much preparation, without much forethought, really at any level," Russell added.
Denver alone has spent at least $4.3 million in city funds to send migrants to other U.S. cities, freeing up shelter beds for new arrivals while adding to the numbers in other Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and New York that are struggling to house asylum-seekers, mostly from Venezuela.
Data was not yet available from New York, though the city is offering one-way plane tickets to anywhere in the world. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago has used state funds to help buy tickets for more than 2,500 migrants who have family, friends or sponsors elsewhere, according to Chief of Staff Mary Krinock.
The cities say they buy tickets only for migrants who want to travel, and they do not coerce people to leave. Texas and Florida have chartered buses and planes to take migrants only to certain cities. They say people board them voluntarily.
"The people who are desperate, who are coming here for shelter and assistance, we're not going to turn those people away," Jon Ewing of Denver Human Service said. "But at the same time, we have to make it very clear to them that there's only so much we can do."
Advocates working with migrants say many come to Denver on their way to other cities because of its relative proximity to the border, reputation for being welcoming and the cheaper bus fare.
Charities are feeling the pressure as the weather turns colder and migrants end up sleeping in tent encampments.
"It breaks my heart. It is like we have so many children and little ones that we know we can't even help," said Yoli Casas, executive director of Vive Wellness, which works with new migrants to Denver.
"There's just no more room. There's no more funding. There's no nothing. We're not prepared," she said.
Denver has bought nearly 3,000 tickets to Chicago and 2,300 to New York, almost half of the more than 12,000 tickets the city has purchased for migrants since November 2022. The vast majority were bus tickets, but Denver also purchased about 340 tickets for flights and 200 for train rides.
Roughly 1,000 tickets were bound for Texas and Florida.
Russell of the Center for Migration Studies said greater communication among cities is required to ensure that "people go where it's most appropriate rather than potentially going in circles and circles, from one city to the next." Cities including Denver, New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles recently have presented a united front, with their mayors going to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Joe Biden and to ask for more assistance.
"You have mayors across the country that are struggling with this international crisis and we need the federal government to do more," Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who took office in May, told reporters this month.
El Paso's mayor is a Democrat, and the city's practice of chartering buses for migrants is separate from Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, whose office says it has bused more than 50,000 migrants to Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles since August 2022 to highlight Biden's border policies.
Information for this article was contributed by Sophia Tareen of The Associated Press.
A person collects items from a tent as Denver Parks Department rangers string police tape during a city-sponsored sweep of an encampment overlooking the city skyline on Diamond Hill on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Denver. The sweep was just one of several staged in various locations across the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Homeless advocate Amy Beck is directed to leave by Denver Police Department officers during a city-sponsored sweep of an encampment overlooking the city skyline on Diamond Hill Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Denver. The sweep was just one of several staged in various locations across the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Denver Police Department officer E. O'Connell directs occupants during a city-sponsored sweep of an encampment overlooking the city skyline on Diamond Hill Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Denver. The sweep was just one of several staged in various locations across the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Police tape is put up during a city-sponsored sweep of an encampment overlooking the city skyline on Diamond Hill Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Denver. The sweep was just one of several staged in various locations across the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Denver City Councilperson Amanda Sandoval, right, joins a pair of Denver Poice Department officers during a city-sponsored sweep of an encampment overlooking the city skyline on Diamond Hill Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Denver. The sweep was just one of several staged in various locations across the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
An occupant uses a mobile device during a city-sponsored sweep of an encampment overlooking the city skyline on Diamond Hill Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Denver. The sweep was just one of several staged in various locations across the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Occupants wait to see how police officers work during a city-sponsored sweep of an encampment overlooking the city skyline on Diamond Hill Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Denver. The sweep was just one of several staged in various locations across the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)