COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Planning is underway in the event more migrants make their way to Colorado Springs from Denver, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said.
The Mayor addressed reporters Thursday morning and insisted the city is not facing "a migrant crisis." He said calling it a crisis is a narrative that's been created in recent weeks.
"What I’ve been trying to do is deescalate the situation to say we don't have a crisis, but good government and good governance is to be prepared ahead of a crisis," Mobolade said.
The mayor said the city does not know how many migrants have made their way to Colorado Springs. He said the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management is working with its counterparts in Denver.
"They [Denver] haven’t sent any migrants our way but what we do know is that some of the migrants coming to our city are happening organically,” Mobolade said.
The city does not have a process in place to track and process people coming to the city because unlike Denver, Colorado Springs is not a so-called "sanctuary city" - a term typically used for cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
"The migrant crisis, quote-unquote, has the potential to further impact our area, regardless of the fact that I've said repeatedly, we're not a sanctuary city and we will not be a sanctuary city," Mobolade said.
Rumors that there are bus loads of migrants coming into Colorado Springs have cost the city money as city staff have looked into the rumors, the mayor said.
"We take each piece of information very seriously and we perform a thorough follow-up. We have chased down every intel that has come our way. However, all this intel has proven to be false," Mobolade said.
The mayor didn't go into many details about the plan for the emergency managers but said there are three main priorities: identifying local organizations that can help, figuring out the roles those organizations can play in the event of a disaster, and figuring out what could prompt future responses.
The mayor said a framework for the plan will be presented to the Colorado Springs City Council on Monday.