Migrant Families Returning to Streets Due to Shelter Conditions and Lack of City Follow Through

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

BE GRATEFUL FOR BROKEN PROMISES

The City’s Written Commitments to Migrant Families Demanding Humane Shelter Conditions

& The Lack of Implementation Resulting in Families With Children Returning to the Streets

May 10, 2024

Around 8 families this morning threatened to walk out of Denver’s congregate family migrant shelter due to WRITTEN COMMITMENTS that the City provided but failed to meet. Please refer to the latter portion of this press release for today’s information, or read on to receive an update regarding this encampment and the many ups and downs they’ve experienced since 1 week ago.

SUMMARY OF EVENTS BEFORE TODAY:

• On May 3rd, migrants from an 89-person strong encampment – including families with dozens of children – held a joint press conference with student representatives from the pro-Palestinian Auraria protest camp to discuss the pending sweep of the migrant camp on May 8th and offer a myriad of reasons for why indoor City shelter was:

1. Not available or accessible to them, for many because they had already used up the allotted time
2. Temporal in nature, resulting with them having to return back to the streets in 3-30 days, and
3. The very reason for which they were on the streets to being with, whether from conditions inside leading to malnourishment and mistreatment of their kids, etc. leading them to seek preferring an outside community where singles and families could live together, provide communal care for children and each other, and have privacy in the form of separate tents rather than a congregate setting

• On May 6th, a representative from the Mayor’s office asked what it would take for migrants to accept indoor shelter, citing that they would decide to offer it to the families. The made the following initial demands:

1. Be permitted to cook and offered fresh, culturally appropriate ingredients to do so
   1. Ever since the start of these programs, HAND has received numerous photos and reports of food that was insufficient, partially frozen with ice still on it, or even spoiled in certain areas
2. Have privacy dividers in between individuals/families
   1. The current option for families is congregate shelter in which they stay on mats on the ground in one big gym
3. Provide daily transportation for kids to finish their school
   1. The sweep was scheduled for May 8th but the children do not finish school until May 23rd, and the encampment was conveniently located between 2 schools in Aurora where children were enrolled. This speaks to the parents’ commitment to their children’s care and education
4. Provide employment, housing, and immigration support for all while sheltered
   1. Without these resources, individuals will likely find themselves back on the street in the same situation after 3-30 days
5. Families will not be separated upon entry and both singles and families will receive support
   1. The nuclear family structure of children with parents is an American structure that does not properly reflect the role of other family members, like grandparents or aunts/uncles, in the successful care for children. While many have to seek employment opportunities, others step in to provide much needed childcare. These families had traveled for many months together and insisted on not being separated.
   2. Additionally, those with children cited numerous reasons for why they needed the single adults in the encampment to continue staying with the families, including the fact that these individuals were the ones who responded to and looked out for families when the shelter system previously kicked them out onto the streets, often times in the middle of the night
6. Schedule a meeting with the Mayor to discuss continued improvements to the migrant system
   1. The migrants have been left out of most conversations concerning their supportive services, resulting in many failures and many still in the streets
7. Provide a written document detailing all of this, in both English and Spanish, and have it signed by a City official
   1. This was emphasized multiple times by encampment residents who were very familiar with false promises from the City and do not, at this point, trust a system which has led them to being in this situation outdoors

• On May 7th, despite the Mayor’s office claiming this document was coming, buses from the City arrived first thing in the morning and people were told to get on the buses to be taken to shelter. Migrants had made it explicitly clear that they would NOT do so without this signed document and conditions improving in the above ways. Eventually, multiple police officers arrived with a paper, UNSIGNED, that detailed that they would be permitted to cook their own food, have privacy dividers, and not separate families… This did not come close to satisfying ALL of their concerns. Migrants then reconvened and discussed in greater detail what they needed as the City continued to pressure them to board a bus without any promise that the outcome would be any different than back on the streets, and especially after lying about the document being on its way. The final demands were the following:

1. 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.
2. Shower access will be available without time limits & can be accessed whenever – we are not in the military, we’re civilians.
3. Medical professional visits will happen regularly & referrals/connections for specialty care will be made as needed.
4. 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.
5. There needs to be a clear, just process before exiting someone for any reason – including verbal, written, & final warnings.
6. All shelter residents will receive connection to employment support, including work permit applications for those who qualify.
7. 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.
8. The City will provide privacy for families/individuals within the shelter.
9. 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.
10. Transportation for all children to & from their schools will be provided until they finish in 3 weeks.
11. No separating families, regardless of if family members have children or not. The camp will stay together.
12. The City must schedule a meeting with the Mayor & those directly involved in running the Newcomer program ASAP to discuss further improvements & ways to support migrants.
13. 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 of if they aren’t holding to their promises.

• HAND, alongside City Council representatives Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady, and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, fought fiercely for all of these incredibly reasonable concerns to be met. The Mayor’s office and City agencies went back and forth, meeting the demands one by one. Along the way, statements were made that were paternalistic and racist, suggesting that white housed advocates were forcing the migrants to take this stance or were making the statements for them despite audio recordings and multiple accounts from people present proving otherwise. 
• At the end of the day, the City’s office published the following response titled “City and County of Denver Response to “39th & Ulster Encampment” Requests”:

1. Request: 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.
   1. Response: Newcomer residents at DCC will be permitted to cook their own, fresh, culturally appropriate meals for the duration of their shelter stay. We are always happy to review shelter policies regarding food storage, with resident safety being our top priority.
2. Request: Shower access will be available without time limits & can be accessed whenever – we are not in the military, we’re civilians.
   1. Response: Shower trailers will be, and always have been, available on site for use by DCC guests. As each trailer’s capacity is limited, time limits may need to be in place depending on the number of guests in the facility to ensure our shower trailers remain operational.
3. Request: Medical professional visits will happen regularly & referrals/connections for specialty care will be made as needed.
   1. Response: The City has always provided access to health care to individuals in its shelters, including providing taxi rides to medical appointments as needed. The City will deploy health professionals to DCC on a regular basis who will make referrals and connections for specialty care as each case requires. The health and welfare of children and families is our top priority and why we are encouraging families to enter shelter.
4. Request: 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.
   1. Response: The City, in collaboration with our non-profit partners, will provide case management and resource navigation services to DCC guests to best determine and meet the needs of each family, including potential employment and housing options.
5. Request: There needs to be a clear, just process before exiting someone for any reason – including verbal, written, & final warnings.
   1. Response: Yes, any exit of a guest from the DCC shelter before the expiration of their 30-day length of stay will only take place after warnings have been made both verbally and in writing, unless the guest poses an immediate danger to other guests or staff.
6. Request: All shelter residents will receive connection to employment support, including work permit applications for those who qualify.
   1. Response: Yes, the City, in collaboration with our non-profit partners, will work with each family to best determine their unique needs and circumstances, including the possibility of employment support and other options prior to shelter exit.
7. Request: 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.
   1. Response: We are happy to work with service providers, volunteers, and other partners to assess immigration and legal needs.
8. Request: The City will provide privacy for families/ individuals within the shelter.
   1. Response: While we do not currently have privacy screens, we are working with our shelter providers to explore how quickly these, or another alternative, can be deployed at DCC.
9. Request: 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.
   1. Response: We support a respectful environment for all guests in shelter facilities. There are a number of safety protocols in place which are required by other City departments, but we are open to reviewing these policies and procedures.
10. Request: Transportation for all children to & from their schools will be provided until they finish in 3 weeks.
    1. Response: Yes, The City will provide transportation to all newcomer children in DCC who are enrolled in Denver schools across the city.
11. Request: No separating families, regardless of if family members have children or not. The camp will stay together.
    1. Response: Yes, we are committed to keeping newcomer families together during their stay in DCC.
12. Request: The City must schedule a meeting with the Mayor & those directly involved in running the Newcomer program ASAP to discuss further improvements & ways to support migrants.
    1. Response: While we are not currently able to commit the Mayor’s time, city leaders in the Mayor’s Office and the administration are more than happy to meet and discuss developments, challenges, and improvements to our newcomer service and response programs.
13. Request: Storage of belongings at DCC.
    1. Response: We will do our best to accommodate the storage of all belongings of camp residents at DCC. We understand the importance of not separating people from their belongings.
14. Request: 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 or if they aren’t holding to their promises.
    1. Response: This document serves as the City’s commitment to supporting newcomers who relocate from the encampment near 39th and Ulster to DCC. Any concerns with conditions or treatment at DCC can be reported to the Denver Anti-Discrimination Office, which serves as the City’s hotline to report incidents at shelter. (720) 913-8458; Anti-Discrimination Office – City and County of Denver (denvergov.org)

• While most, but not all, of the concerns were addressed thanks to those who kept by the migrants, the City chose not to include single adults in receiving any sort of support, threatening them with sweep and arrest if they did not take a ticket out of town. The following is directly translated from an audio recording of family members with children stating why they needed the camp’s singles to be included, and why they would not accept shelter otherwise:

1. “For the single men, it’s always harder for them to enter inside and receive support than for families, and everyone needs it, not just families”
2. “When us families are outside, it’s the single men who are the only ones helping us. If we leave and go inside and they’re left outside, they will scatter. Then if we get kicked out again from the shelter, who’s going to help us?”
3. “If they kick us out again, let’s say we’re 4 families, we’re going to be 4 families separated and alone in the streets”
4. “When we’re united, we don’t have drug addicts, no one goes crazy and gets in fights or does anything crazy, because between the singles and families, we’re united, and we look out for each other so that when somebody comes for one person, they have to deal with all of us…”

• Since the City failed to allow singles to receive any sort of support for their situations, choosing to leave them on the streets, the entire camp attempted to move to a new location. They met severe difficulty due to the cold and the needs of the camp as far as location that stayed near the schools and had other safety factors. Ultimately, after attempting to move 4 times, some of the parents said they would return to the original location so their children could receive some sleep, hoping to resolve things in the morning. Other parents with children, accompanied by the singles and couples without children, continued to move and landed on a location with the knowledge it was likely that the City would follow them and sweep them, no matter where they moved to. 
• On May 8th, some of the families at the original location went to the family shelter while others still asked advocates to take them instead to the location of the new camp. One of the families that went to the shelter immediately left due to conditions not being met, citing, in particular, the rules that they have including the timed shower access. The husband of a pregnant wife said that this was not feasible for them, resulting in 4 adults and 4 children leaving the shelter. 
• Upon arrival, individuals immediately realized that demands 1, 2, 8, 9, 12, and 14 were left unmet. These were (copied from the City’s document above, with City’s responses followed by REALITY):

1. Request: 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.
   1. Response: Newcomer residents at DCC will be permitted to cook their own, fresh, culturally appropriate meals for the duration of their shelter stay. We are always happy to review shelter policies regarding food storage, with resident safety being our top priority.
   2. REALITY: There is no cooking option available at the shelter. There is a kitchen indoors that is completely closed off and shut down. There is not outside grilling option in place. Instead, a migrant mother of 2 children was told on the morning of May 10th that, after her kids complained of still being hungry, they could not receive any more food. Additionally, many claim that the food is too spicy (Venezuelans are notorious for not being accustomed to spicy food, thus, once again, providing not culturally-appropriate diets).  
2. Request: Shower access will be available without time limits & can be accessed whenever – we are not in the military, we’re civilians.
   1. Response: Shower trailers will be, and always have been, available on site for use by DCC guests. As each trailer’s capacity is limited, time limits may need to be in place depending on the number of guests in the facility to ensure our shower trailers remain operational.
   2. REALITY: While both Papagayo and Newcomer Program leadership have stated in conversations that this policy is flexible to the needs of the families, this has not been the case in practice. This has led to a family of 8 (4 adults, 4 children), including a pregnant woman, leaving the shelter. 

      8.   Request: The City will provide privacy for families/ individuals within the shelter.

1. Response: While we do not currently have privacy screens, we are working with our shelter providers to explore how quickly these, or another alternative, can be deployed at DCC.
2. REALITY: It has been suggested by program leadership that, in fact, this will not be possible whatsoever. They are currently expected to sleep on ½-inch thick mats on the gymnasium floor that are spaced approximately one foot from each other with no distinctions between families.

      9.   Request: 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.

1. Response: We support a respectful environment for all guests in shelter facilities. There are a number of safety protocols in place which are required by other City departments, but we are open to reviewing these policies and procedures.
2. REALITY: Migrants have cited, since their arrival, racist behavior from staff – especially towards those with darker skin. They have also cited staff yelling at their children inappropriately. As previously stated, they have denied additional food to children as well. In fact, the staff had no previous knowledge whatsoever of this City provided document before HAND sent them copies of it via email.

     12.   Request: The City must schedule a meeting with the Mayor & those directly involved in running 

 the Newcomer program ASAP to discuss further improvements & ways to support migrants.

1. Response: While we are not currently able to commit the Mayor’s time, city leaders in the Mayor’s Office and the administration are more than happy to meet and discuss developments, challenges, and improvements to our newcomer service and response programs.
2. REALITY: There have been no updates whatsoever on any plans to hold such a meeting.

     14.   Request: 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 or if they aren’t holding to their promises.

1. Response: This document serves as the City’s commitment to supporting newcomers who relocate from the encampment near 39th and Ulster to DCC. Any concerns with conditions or treatment at DCC can be reported to the Denver Anti-Discrimination Office, which serves as the City’s hotline to report incidents at shelter. (720) 913-8458; Anti-Discrimination Office – City and County of Denver (denvergov.org)
2. REALITY: This document was NOT signed by a City Official, as very urgently demanded by the migrant community. As a result, no one is personally accountable to the fact that these demands were not met. Now, the City is attempting to suggest that certain things are in process without ever providing a timeline or further information to migrants, who instead are left with the reality that these have simply not been met. This shows why it was so crucial to them to receive this guarantee – instead of instilling further distrust in the system. 

• On May 9th, while the new camp site was swept, advocates from HAND and Together Denver alongside City Council representatives Lewis and Parady showed up and demanded answers from City representatives Evan Dreyers, Andy Phelps, and Sarah Plastino regarding what singles were expected to do – should they just be swept again and again from place to place, facing arrest and deportation? They response initially repeated was that yes, or otherwise accept a ticket out of town. Eventually it was stated that they would be given the 3 days of shelter offered to those just arriving to Denver. Arguments were made that they would find themselves in the same situation without any connection to case management. After continued negotiation and City Councilwoman Lewis contacting the Mayor, who was out of town, they were finally offered 7 days in hotel shelter with the promise of meeting with case management to connect them to available employment, housing, and immigration support. Though still a short timeframe, this was a step in the right direction to work on providing some supportive services to those who are here and begging for the chance to work and live here legally, leading to cheers from the exhausted singles and the dedicated families with them.

EVENTS TODAY, MAY 10th:

• The above unmet demands led to migrants calling advocates at HAND multiple times on the morning of May 10th to say that 8 of them decided to leave the shelter and wouldn’t stay because of the above. The greatest concern did seem to be the inability to properly feed their children, coupled with poor treatment from staff members. HAND worked quickly to inform shelter leadership, City Council representatives, and the Mayor’s office of the situation in hopes that they would resolve this and stand true to their written document.
• INSTEAD, there was significant push back, offering all sorts of logistic explanations for why these written statements weren’t possible… This shows that the City published a document for the sole purpose of manipulating individuals into believing that they were being heard and changes would be made in order to force them back into a problematic shelter system which had led to them being on the streets in the first place. By including written statements from the City, such as “Newcomer residents at DCC will be permitted to cook their own, fresh, culturally appropriate meals for the duration of their shelter stay”, the City becomes responsible to ensure that this is made reality. The very finally statement in the document, once again, states: “This document serves as the City’s commitment to supporting newcomers who relocate from the encampment near 39th and Ulster to DCC”
  • As a written commitment from the City to the migrants, they are entirely responsible for any lack of follow through or deviation from their words. Otherwise, an official document from the City means absolutely nothing. If these are left unresolved, this would continue to seed distrust in a system that is willing to tell you one thing to your face without any promise of it materializing as reality. 
• Additionally, the same sorts of paternalistic assumptions were made by representatives from all agencies that these migrants couldn’t possibly be making these demands on their own, and should instead be satisfied with what the incomplete, broken promises they receive and return inside. We would like to make a very clear, strong statement at this time and as we continue advocating for this vulnerable community:
  • The Venezuelan migrants directly experiencing these conditions and systemic failures are entirely capable of deciding what is best for themselves and their families. At every point of the way, HAND has simply acted as an advocacy medium by which they could connect with those in power to affect change they wanted in their lives. We stand by the needs of mothers who know what’s best for their children, who have traveled across 8 different countries by foot through unforgiving jungle terrain. We stand by political refugees tortured by lying governments, very familiar with dictatorships and those who say one thing but do another. They demand to be informed of all available options and to be afforded humane treatment. Ultimately, they seek autonomy and self-determination to be able to lead successful lives – simply open the door for opportunities and they will prove themselves perfectly capable of success and true assets to our community. We will not stop listening to, amplifying, and centering the voices of migrants and sharing their very reasonable demands with the powers that be.