(COLORADO SPRINGS) — On Thursday, Feb. 22, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade addressed concerns about the possibility of more migrants coming into the city. It has been nearly a month since migrants first arrived in the Pikes Peak region on Jan. 28.
“We’re not in crisis,” Mobolade said. “That’s really important for me to say.”
He spoke about the city’s response in addressing concerns he has received through his office, and also wanted to demonstrate the plan for any circumstance.
“As your mayor, I’m also always planning for worst case scenario. That’s part of my job and that’s good leadership. We do not want to be caught off guard without a plan,” Mobolade said.
He outlined three priorities the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is working on.
“Number one, identifying and taking an inventory of local organizations and agencies that could help relieve the burden on government,” Mobolade said.
As of now, the city said it does not have any way to track how many migrants are in Colorado Springs. Mobolade is hoping to continue to build relationships with nonprofits to help.
“They’re the ones I’m actually depending on to communicate with me. So, we have the ability as a community to respond. So, if we keep the politics away from it, we bring our nonprofit partners together, we can better communicate amongst ourselves.”
He said the goal of keeping politics out of the picture helps everyone continue to focus on the goal of making sure Colorado Springs is not a sanctuary city.
“What I am more concerned about is if Denver gets overwhelmed and we start organically seeing migrants into our city, how do we respond?” Mobolade said.
The city of Denver has had to cut 15 percent of its budget to deal with the influx of migrants coming into the city, the mayor said. This is something Mobolade said he wants to make sure doesn’t happen to Colorado Springs.
“Numbers like 40,000 is a crisis,” Mobolade said. “Around November, December where there were busloads. I don’t want it to become a crisis. That’s why I’m trying to get ahead of the work that needs to be done.”
On Monday, OEM will begin establishing a framework for how it is planning to respond should more migrants arrive unexpectedly in Colorado Springs. The office will then share that framework during the city council work session.
