Denver Migrants Send List of 13 Demands to Mayor

A group of migrants are refusing to leave an encampment in Denver until the city meets a list of 13 demands.

The demands were sent to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston following a petition by city officials to move the group from the encampment to indoor shelters funded by the city, local TV station KDVR reported. The encampment is under a bridge and near train tracks.

The group said if its demands are met, it will leave the encampment and move to a city shelter. The demands include providing "fresh" and "culturally appropriate" ingredients to cook with, shower access with no time limits, medical visits and housing support.

Newsweek has contacted via email the mayor's office for comment.

The group's complete demands are as follows:

1. The migrants should be allowed to "cook their own food with fresh, culturally appropriate ingredients," including rice, chicken, flour, tomatoes and onions, instead of being served premade meals. They also want to ensure people are not punished for bringing and eating food from outside the shelters.
2. Have access to showers at all times and without time limits.
3. Visits by medical professionals will occur on a regular basis, with referrals for specialty care made as needed.
4. The group will receive the same housing support offered to others, and city officials will not "kick people out in 30 days without something stable established."
5. A "clear" and "just" process for removing someone, including verbal, written and final warnings.
6. Employment support, including work permit applications for those who qualify.
7. Free consultations with an immigration lawyer, as well as ongoing legal support provided by the city through immigration clinics and transportation to court.
8. Privacy for families in the shelter.
9. No verbal, physical or mental abuse by shelter staff and no 24/7 monitoring by law enforcement.
10. Transportation for children to and from school.
11. No separation of families, regardless of whether those families have children.
12. A meeting with the mayor and those involved in running the city's program to support migrants "to discuss further improvements."
13. All shelter residents will be provided with a document signed by a city official in English and Spanish and containing the list of demands and a number to call to report violations.

Jon Ewing, a spokesman for Denver Human Services, told KDVR that the city is "just trying to get families to leave that camp and come inside."

The city's offer will give families "three square meals a day," and they can cook their own meals if they wish, he said. He also said that the city will try to compromise and determine what assistance the migrants qualify for.

"What might be something that is a feasible path for you to success that is not staying on the streets of Denver?" he said. "We try to figure something out.... At the end of the day, what we do not want is families on the streets of Denver."

Denver is among the U.S. cities that have struggled to manage the rising number of migrants that have been transported from Texas and other states. Last month, Johnston announced the creation of the Denver Asylum Seekers Program, which his office billed as a sustainable response to the city's migrant crisis.

The program will place asylum seekers in apartments for up to six months and provide job and skills training, food assistance and free legal help with asylum applications.

However, the program is limited to those who were in the city's shelters on April 10 and capped at about 1,000 people. Those who arrived in Denver after April 10 will be provided with a short-term stay at a shelter and assistance with onward travel.

Nonprofits are also working to support migrants arriving in Denver and other parts of Colorado. One organization, Hope Has No Borders, is working to pair migrants with host families for short or longer-term stays in Denver and other parts of Colorado.