Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) reversed his decision to help migrants get to Democrat-run cities like Chicago and New York City after mayors from those cities expressed outrage.
Polis had committed to working with local authorities in Denver to help get migrants to their final destinations.
Despite not being a border state, Colorado, which neighbors border state New Mexico, had become a thoroughfare for migrants wanting to reach Chicago or New York City, and as a result, had seen an influx in migrants.
But last week, Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot and New York City’s Democratic Mayor Eric Adams called on Polis to end his assistance as their cities also struggled with an influx of migrants.
Touting the program, Polis asserted that migrants “fleeing violence and oppression” deserved respect, “not political games.”
He added that he was pleased the state could “assist migrants to reach their final destination.”
Polis added that Colorado would “refuse to keep people against their will if they desire to travel elsewhere.”
After Colorado had only bussed a few hundred migrants to Chicago and New York City, the Democratic mayors of these cities sent Polis a joint letter, asking that he stop the program.
The pair noted they had “seen [Polis’s] statements in the media” about wanting to accommodate “the wishes of migrants to come to cities like New York City and Chicago.”
But objected to the plan, stating Polis was sending migrants to Chicago and New York City who didn’t have family ties or a community to welcome them.
The letter was a diplomatic response compared to the outrage Adams expressed last week when he compared Polis’s program with Republican Governors Greg Abbott (Texas) and Ron DeSantis (Florida), who sent 30,000 migrants to New York City last year.
