When my adult children were young, a favorite read-along book was called If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It was a cute story with the premise,
If a hungry little traveler shows up at your house, you might want to give him a cookie. If you give him a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk. He’ll want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn’t have a milk mustache, and then he’ll ask for a pair of scissors to give himself a trim…
Illegal migrants to Denver have done just that. Last week they submitted a list of 13 demands to Mayor Mike Johnston that they insist the city must meet before they vacate their tent city encampments and move into city-provided shelters.
These migrant families are currently living under bridges and near train tracks. Let’s look at some of their demands.
Migrants will cook their own food with fresh, culturally appropriate ingredients provided by the city instead of premade meals — rice, chicken, flour, oil, butter, tomatoes, onions, etc. …Also, people will not be punished for bringing in & eating outside food.
I’m surprised they don’t also want proper kitchens and a chef to prepare their culturally appropriate meals.
And culturally appropriate for whom? While most illegal migrants are coming from central and South America there are still a significant number arriving from Russia, China, India, Turkey, and Africa. What about their culturally appropriate foods?
In the name of diversity, inclusion, and equity, will Denver have to supply ingredients from each and every country to satisfy migrants from every culture?
Shower access will be available without time limits & can be accessed whenever — we are not in the military, we’re civilians.
Anyone who has grown up with a large family with a limited number of bathrooms and showers knows that shower access is not unlimited. In my college fraternity we had 40 or 50 guys sharing a half dozen showers and time limits were essential.
Besides, Colorado faces a water shortage and unlimited showers certainly go against water conservation. I’m surprised environmental groups are not speaking out against unlimited showers as they would against suburbanites watering their lawns or washing their cars.
Medical professional visits will happen regularly & referrals/connections for specialty care will be made as needed.
Aside from the matter of who is going to pay for all this health care on demand, there is little capacity. Many Colorado residents with good insurance wait months for a specialist appointment. How fast will patients with Medicaid or no insurance expect to be seen? Denver Health, the city’s safety net hospital, is already drowning to the annual tune of $130 million due to uncompensated care provided largely to illegal migrants.
All will receive the same housing support that has been offered to others. They cannot kick people out in 30 days without something stable established.
Once again there is a supply and demand problem. Where will the migrants live? Colorado currently faces a shortfall of 100,000 homes and apartments the second 40,000 new migrants in Denver the math simply doesn’t work.
Consultations for each person/family with a free immigration lawyer must be arranged to discuss/progress their cases, & then the City will provide on-going legal support in the form of immigration document clinics & including transportation to relevant court dates.
Just like medical specialists, lawyers do not grow on trees. Where will all these demanded immigration lawyers come from? Colorado public defenders already acknowledge that they need at least 230 more attorneys to provide necessary legal services in Colorado.
No more verbal or physical or mental abuse will be permitted from the staff, including no sheriff sleeping inside & monitoring 24/7 — we are not criminals & won’t be treated as such.
Of course, abuse should not be tolerated. But there is indeed crime at shelters and a law enforcement presence might save lives.
Two people were recently found dead at a Denver hotel turned shelter with homicide suspected. Crime calls have risen 2900% at a Denver hotel converted to a shelter.
And don’t forget that anyone entering the country not following existing immigration law is by definition a criminal. What’s wrong with criminals being treated as such? Just because the Biden administration refuses to enforce existing law does not erase the law.
Transportation for all children to & from their schools will be provided until they finish in 3 weeks.
How many Colorado parents don’t currently have that luxury based on school start time, work schedules, location, and other factors? Will the city be paying Uber drivers to bring migrant children to and from school if the school bus doesn’t stop at the underpass?
The City must provide all residents with a document signed by a City official in English & Spanish with all of these demands that includes a number to call to report mistreatment.
Under President Biden’s watch, illegal migrants from over 160 countries have arrived in the U.S. Most of those countries are non-Spanish-speaking. Will the city be providing documents in every language to be inclusive?
Over 7000 languages are spoken around the world, not just Spanish and English. Documents in 7000 different languages could be stored in one of the Denver-area public libraries closed due to meth contamination.
Denver is getting what it deserves. And asked for.
Denver is a proud sanctuary city: “In 2017, the Denver City Council codified Denver’s status as a sanctuary city with an ordinance that prohibits city employees from collecting information on immigration or citizenship status, or prohibits the sharing of any other information about individuals for purposes of immigration enforcement.”
Colorado governor Jared Polis also rolled out the welcome mat. In 2021, “In a letter to the President Joe Biden, Gov. Jared Polis says Colorado is ready to help refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan resettle.”
Denver will be spending at least $90 million this year on migrant services slashing the budgets from all city agencies, including police defunding, to pay for migrant support. What about taxpaying residents of Denver? Then again most of them voted for this — 80% of Denver county voted for Biden.
Denver has enough problems as it is. Aggravated assaults have doubled over the past decade the fastest growth of any city of more than half a million residents. Homicides have tripled in the past decade. Colorado leads the nation in auto thefts.
Once it was John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” where you can “See it rainin’ fire in the sky, the shadow from the starlight softer than a lullaby.”
Not so much now. As Denver residents and elected officials are starting to realize virtue signalling has a cost. Being a sanctuary city makes for virtuous conversation at trendy Cherry Creek bars and restaurants, but in reality, is creating a dangerous clown show in Denver.
Denver gave the migrant mice a cookie and now they want the kitchen and entire house.
Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer.
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