Cities like Denver are struggling with the costs of housing, educating, and providing services to tens of thousands of migrants arriving since 2022.
Denver has already spent $42M and estimates the costs will exceed $180M this year.
Mayor Johnston said, “We are going to have to make changes to what we can do in terms of our city budget and what we can do in terms of support for newcomers who have arrived in the city.”
Senator Matt Pouliot explains how over $13 million in taxpayer funding is going to support just 85 migrant families at a hotel in Saco. pic.twitter.com/oz5NkGuV7W
— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) February 13, 2024
“We want to continue to be a city that does not have women and children out on the street in tents in 20-degree weather,” he continued.
“And we also want to provide all our constituents with the services they deserve and the services that they expect,” he added.
“This is a plan for shared sacrifice,” explained the mayor.
Johnston went on to propose cuts in services to city residents.
Johnston accused Trump of conspiring with Republicans to “kill that bill just so this crisis would continue just because he thinks he has a better chance of reelection.”
The mayor proposed budget cuts to city services for legal residents to address the $171M shortfall.
Nearby Lakewood residents packed a meeting opposing becoming like Denver, overwhelmed by the crisis.
Resident Dawn Austin said, “What you see tonight is informed voters who have watched Denver’s decline, and don’t want the same here.”
Ramey Johnson, a former city councilwoman, said, “This community cannot afford this.”
Lakewood city manager Kathy Hodgson said, “Lakewood is not being solicited for hotel/motel or congregate housing support.”
Other cities across the US are also diverting millions from police, fire, libraries to care for migrants.
Sen. Pouliot said, “This hotel at which we’ve spent now over $13 million at.”
He continued, “This hotel has served just 85 families. Now think about that for a moment. We have 186 really bright minds in the legislature working on really complex problems. And somehow 13 almost $14 million is being diverted to help just 85 families. That doesn’t seem right.”
In Maine, $13M has housed just 85 families in a hotel, angering state legislators who say rural residents are told to do more with less while money goes to non-residents.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Trey Stewart added, “It’s really striking to me that the folks in rural Maine are being told to do more with less, meanwhile Taj Mahals are being built for other folks in more urban places that aren’t even Maine residents, Maine citizens.”
The influx of migrants is straining city budgets and causing backlash as funds for existing taxpayers and services are cut to accommodate the new arrivals.
Republican House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham said, “Just to put that number in perspective, it’s more people to move in than have moved in since 2000 – and Mainers are footing the bill.”
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