Migrants arriving in Denver say they face difficulties with the application process and the shelter system as state authorities refuse to accept new arrivals, US media reported.
A single mother from Venezuela said while standing outside a new immigrant shelter:
We just want the six-month programme that was talked about.
V. Reeves, an activist with Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND), said the process is confusing because new immigrants receive different information from shelters, social workers and those in charge of housing. He noted:
“Basically, these folks are saying, “Look, a lot of us actually qualify because we’re asylum seekers. Some of us have letters of work verification, some of us have found the housing, and we’re looking for the same kind of support that others are supposed to receive.” But instead, they’re told, “Well, if you found the housing, we might be able to cover a deposit, maybe a month,” while other people are given six months of support.”
On Monday, a group of immigrants said they were told they had to leave the shelter where they were living. The single mother from Venezuela told Denver7:
A worker named (redacted), they knocked on the door and they said that actually, we have to leave today.
A spokesperson for city officials said the residents of the shelter did not have to leave and everyone in the shelter falls under the asylum seeker programme. In a statement to Denver7, city officials said they are “in the process of communicating with guests about the Denver Asylum Seeker Programme.” Reeves said:
We are actively in the process of communicating with guests about the Denver Asylum Seekers Program, which provides 6 months rental, transportation, and food assistance along with access to workforce training and development. Those interested in enrolling in the program, which to our knowledge is virtually everyone at (name of shelter), will work with resource navigators as they exit shelter into housing. They have a flyer that was eventually taken down, but they took photos of it before it was taken down. And this flyer specifically said that (shelter residents) were going to receive the same kind of six-month support help.
Everyone was eventually allowed to stay at the shelter on Monday, but some new immigrants said they were still concerned about a possible time limit on their stay.
To fill the gap between shelters and permanent housing, Reeves said HAND is working to introduce new immigrants to host families who are willing to give them rooms in their homes.
Denver will provide six months of free housing, food assistance, workforce training and more to about 1,000 migrants currently in the city’s shelter system while they wait for work permits, which can take up to 180 days under the federal Asylum Seekers Act.
Until now, migrants have been allowed to stay in shelters for two to six weeks, but the new rules dictate that migrants arriving in the city after 10 April must leave in 24 to 72 hours, after which they will be “granted a short-term stay in a congregate site along with assistance in securing onward relocation to another destination.”
