EXCERPT:
JOHNSTON: "It is definitely both a humanitarian crisis for the migrants that are arriving, and it is creating a fiscal crisis for the city. As you mentioned, we've now had more than 36,000 migrants arrive, and these are people with incredible stories. You know, these are people that are literally the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. These are teachers and police officers and nurses and engineers who have walked 3,000 miles to get to this country and all they want is the chance to work and support themselves and their families. So there are heartbreaking stories every day, but we also know without federal support and without federal action, the impact on a city like Denver, this would be $180 million impact on our budget in 2024. That’s more than 10% of our entire city budget. So we believe there is a path to a solution here, there is going to be bipartisan agreement on how he can both increase access to work authorization, provide more support at the border, and get more federal resources, and we just need to make sure that makes it through the House of Representatives because otherwise cities like ours will be in deep crisis."