Denver Rallied Behind Arriving Immigrants. Now Its Homeless Population Feels Shortchanged.

Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez’s run for reelection provides a glimpse at how new patterns of immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border have coincided with, if not driven, changing attitudes among voters who live there.

Denver Rallied Behind Arriving Immigrants. Now Its Homeless Population Feels Shortchanged.

More in this series
Caret

Reporting Highlights

  • Denver’s “Newcomers”: Thousands of migrants arrived in Denver after the Biden administration lifted asylum restrictions. The city offered them temporary housing and help getting jobs.
  • Another Crisis: The city also faced rising homelessness, causing resentment and criticism that the intense focus on migrants was taking resources away from unhoused residents.
  • City Retreats: The city had to cut its budget and ultimately closed the migrant shelters. But Mayor Mike Johnston says Denver created a template other cities can follow to aid migrants.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

// When Iterate loads, add a "Give Feedback" button to the page that, when clicked, opens a survey. Since Iterate is commonly blocked by ad blockers, we want to avoid displaying a feedback button that won't trigger a survey and will appear broken. document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", (event) => { Iterate('onLoad', (survey) => { var elSurveyPlaceholder = document.getElementById("survey-placeholder"); elSurveyPlaceholder.innerHTML = "
 0
 0