Video emerged of a Denver city leader begging migrant families inside an overcrowded shelter to leave the city and move on, or face a bleak future. Colorado’s 9NEWS obtained the clip of Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston’s political director, Andres Carrerra, telling newly arrived migrants that Denver cannot support them. In the clip, Carrera makes an impassioned pitch to the migrants to leave Denver, offering Chicago, New York, and Miami as alternative destinations with more resources and more Spanish speakers, writes 9News.
“The opportunities are over,” Carrera says to the group in Spanish. “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.”
“We have received too many migrants and that is why we ran out of resources,” Carrera told the assembled crowd inside Denver’s main migrant shelter. “We are not going to block you if you want to say here,” Carrera says. “If you stay here you are going to suffer even more and I don’t want to see this.”
Local Channel 9 News reported “Denver is offering to pay for migrants’ onward bus fare to destinations of their choice, a decision decried by other cities also struggling with the migrant crisis. The migrants Carrera is seen speaking to on video arrived in Denver on March 26 on a bus organized by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to a city spokesperson.”
The clip shows kids at Carrera’s feet as he speaks with their parents, some of whom may have walked much of the journey to the United States. “You don’t have to walk anywhere, we can buy you a free ticket,” Carrera tells them. “You can go to any city. We can take you up to the Canadian border, wherever!”
9 News reports a city spokesperson clarified that Denver is not buying bus tickets to Canadian cities but will help migrants travel to American cities near the Canadian border if they ask.
At the end of his remarks, Carrera asks the crowd, “Okay, who wants to travel to different cities where there is more work?”
“Who wants to stay in Denver?”
“Todos,” a migrant replies — everyone.
