"I would tell them not to come," he says. "Don't come over here to Denver. There's no work. It's better for us to go somewhere else. San Antonio, Los Angeles, Miami. Where there's work and a friend."
Just behind Ramos is the migrant shelter — a Comfort Inn converted into a non-congregate site — where he stayed for a month with his children after arriving in Denver a few months ago. Part of the reason that he thinks Venezuelans are better off elsewhere is because that shelter and another like it closed this week, leaving just one more open.
Mayor Mike Johnston announced at the end of February that four migrant shelters would close to save $60 million and cut into the $180 million deficit the city would face if it kept offering services at the rate that it did in January, when about 5,000 migrants were staying in city shelters. (That deficit forced Denver to cut services at recreation centers and DMVs.)
A month after Johnston's plan went into action, the City of Denver announced on Monday, April 1, that it would be closing down two additional shelters this week, leaving the city with one non-congregate site. The city finished closing the four sites that Johnston cited in February, but it closed the two additional shelters — including Ramos's old stamping ground on Federal Boulevard — on Monday.
Along with a Comfort Inn in the Montbello neighborhood, the Comfort Inn on Federal Boulevard closed on Monday, April 1; a Comfort Inn on Tower Road closed on Wednesday, April 3, which was the last of the four Johnston targeted in February. The non-congregate sites are all hotels converted into shelters.
"Keep in touch with family, with friends if they're going to only have one shelter open," Ramos says. "Keep in touch with a family member, so someone can receive you here and help you look for a place where they still have a shelter open."
A month after Johnston's plan went into action, the City of Denver announced on Monday, April 1, that it would be closing down two additional shelters this week, leaving the city with one non-congregate site. The city finished closing the four sites that Johnston cited in February, but it closed the two additional shelters — including Ramos's old stamping ground on Federal Boulevard — on Monday.
Along with a Comfort Inn in the Montbello neighborhood, the Comfort Inn on Federal Boulevard closed on Monday, April 1; a Comfort Inn on Tower Road closed on Wednesday, April 3, which was the last of the four Johnston targeted in February. The non-congregate sites are all hotels converted into shelters.
"Keep in touch with family, with friends if they're going to only have one shelter open," Ramos says. "Keep in touch with a family member, so someone can receive you here and help you look for a place where they still have a shelter open."
The city also stopped migrant shelter services at a congregate site set up at the McNichols Building, which was used as an emergency shelter, on Saturday, March 30. The city is still running one more congregate site with the Denver Community Church, which can shelter up to 120 people, as a transitional shelter meant to give individual migrants a little more time to find housing.
No one was kicked out of their shelter prematurely, according to Ewing, but after migrants' allotted time at shelters ran out, no one took their place.
The city closed the two additional shelters as "the number of new daily arrivals and the overall shelter population has steadily declined," according to an April 1 update from the mayor's office. Jon Ewing, spokesperson for Denver Human Services, says that new migrant arrivals are a quarter of what they were in the winter.
"We’re averaging around fifty arrivals a day now. This includes people seeking shelter and people only seeking travel elsewhere," he says. "As recently as January, that number was often upwards of 200. As for buses, we received 25 in March. Up from seven in February, but way, way below the 144 received in December."
"We’re averaging around fifty arrivals a day now. This includes people seeking shelter and people only seeking travel elsewhere," he says. "As recently as January, that number was often upwards of 200. As for buses, we received 25 in March. Up from seven in February, but way, way below the 144 received in December."
"People are ending their stays in shelter on time and then moving to the next destination," he says. "For many, that’s either their own apartment — a process facilitated by the nonprofits we work with — a potential host family situation with someone in the community, or, in some cases, onward travel."
Ramos says that after he left the Comfort Inn, he started renting an apartment that he found with the help of Papagayo, a nonprofit helping the city provide migrants with housing and work. Ramos still doesn't have a work permit, however, and he returns to the street outside his old shelter to make money cleaning car windows.
Ramos says that after he left the Comfort Inn, he started renting an apartment that he found with the help of Papagayo, a nonprofit helping the city provide migrants with housing and work. Ramos still doesn't have a work permit, however, and he returns to the street outside his old shelter to make money cleaning car windows.
The series of closures happening this week will leave Denver with one non-congregate migrant shelter and one congregate shelter, the Mullen Home, which is used as a shelter for women and children.
The remaining non-congregate site can shelter about 800 people, Ewing says. The Mullen Home will remain open for "a limited number" of families, according to an update on migrant services from the city; it has room for upwards of 300 people, but that depends on staffing. The city runs the Mullen Home in partnership with the Archdiocese of Denver and Catholic Charities.
In mid-March, Denver City Council approved a $20 million to buy more hotel rooms for migrant shelters if another influx occurs. When that funding passed, Denver was already in the process of whittling down its inventory of 2,000 hotel rooms set aside for migrants, however.
In mid-March, Denver City Council approved a $20 million to buy more hotel rooms for migrant shelters if another influx occurs. When that funding passed, Denver was already in the process of whittling down its inventory of 2,000 hotel rooms set aside for migrants, however.
The three shelters that closed during the month of March included one on Tower Road, one on East 63rd Avenue and a controversial site in Aurora.
There were ten migrant shelters open through the winter. Because of the cold weather and snowfall in January, the city suspended its length-of-stay policy, which allows individual migrants to stay for two weeks and families with children to stay for 42 days. This led Denver's migrant shelter population to swell to 5,000 during one cold week.
As of Thursday, April 4, the number of migrants in Denver's shelters stood at 741, the lowest since August.
Not all migrants feel like the shelter closures are a sign to move elsewhere. Angel Jose Guillermo Velazquez left the Comfort Inn in Montbello two months ago, but he continues to hang out in the area with a friend, living outside in an RV. His advice to migrants like him who want to come to Denver: "Keep coming."
"Think twice about coming, obviously," he says. "But here is fine. You just have to handle the pressure, like in any other city. But yes, I recommend they come to Denver. It hasn't been too hard for me here."
Denver has spent more than $63 million offering shelter, food or onward travel to more than 40,000 migrants who have arrived here since December 2022.
