Colorado Springs Mayor says city is not facing migrant crisis but unsure how many are here

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said during a press conference Thursday the city is not facing a migrant crisis, however, he said the city doesn’t know how many migrants are actually in Colorado Springs.

What the city does know is that the Salvation Army helped about two dozen migrants who came on a bus from Denver in early February. On Thursday, the mayor said the Salvation Army hasn’t seen migrants come through its doors since, but the response from governments and residents following the news was swift.

Both El Paso County and the City of Colorado Springs publicly announced they are not a sanctuary city, and residents were concerned about an influx of migrants, including one man standing along Interstate 25 with a sign saying, “Illegals Not Welcome.”

“We don't have a crisis and I'm trying to de-escalate our community from the notion that we do have a crisis,” Mobolade said during Thursday’s press conference.

Mobolade said the city takes information about migrants coming into the city seriously and verifies any leads it receives. He said rumors of busloads coming to Colorado Springs from Denver and dozens of migrants staying in hotels are false.

“The rumors are there because of fear that has been stirred up in our community,” he said. “There is a cost to the taxpayers. We do not have the system or the resources to keep up with rumors.”

Mobolade said the city doesn’t know how many migrants are currently in Colorado Springs or how many have come through the city and received help. He said the city relies on nonprofits who serve the migrant population for those numbers.

Over the weekend, Mobolade said Catholic Charities told him about 1% of the people they serve, or about 25 people a week, have identified themselves as migrants. Mobolade said he’s worried if the migrant situation continues to be politicized, these non-profit organizations will no longer disclose how many migrants they are serving, making the city’s response to the situation more difficult.

“My fear is that if we keep the politics going, some of these partners will go dark, they will go underground,” he said. “They're the ones I'm actually depending on to communicate with me, so we have the ability as a community to respond.”

Mobolade said Colorado Springs isn’t facing a migrant crisis, pointing to Denver as what a crisis looks like. The City of Denver recently cut its budget by 15% to address the influx of thousands of migrants. Mobolade said Colorado Springs isn’t anywhere close to that situation, but he’s concerned about any trickle-down effect.

The city is working with Pikes Peak Regional Emergency Management to create a plan in case the migrant situation becomes a crisis in Colorado Springs. That plan will be presented during a city council work session on Monday and will include how many local organizations and agencies could help if there is an influx of migrants and what role they would play in a disaster response scenario.

“I'm not worried about that type of crisis coming to Colorado Springs because we're not a sanctuary city,” Mobolade said. “But what I am more concerned about is if Denver gets overwhelmed and we start organically seeing migrants into our city, how do we respond?”