GARFIELD COUNTY, CO - Cities such as Chicago, Denver, and New York City aren't the only places in the country that are seeing an influx of migrants. According to the Daily Mail, Carbondale, a municipality in Garfield County, with a population of about 6,400 is being overrun by at least 125 Venezuelan migrants who have traveled there after hearing about the plethora of job opportunities that are being offered.
The issue is that the posh ski resort town, which is a 30-minute drive away from the high-end ski resort town of Aspen, there are zero homeless shelters. The city of Denver currently has roughly 2,600 migrants in shelters and around 200 on the streets.
Carbondale is described as a "small town with a big heart," known for its luxury ski chalet homes. The town itself is facing its own housing crisis, as reported by the Daily Mail, and so the Venezuelan migrants are sleeping in their cars. With the weather dropping as low as 10 degrees at night, the migrants are sleeping five or more to a car.
Even with the reported job opportunities, Zillow states that the cheapest property currently on the market is $720,000, with most houses valued at nearly $2 million. There are a few small homeless shelters in Aspen, but those are typically filled with long waitlists.
Edgar Hernandez spoke with 9News, stating that he and four other of his friends are living in the back of his Honda. He said, "In the car with my friends. There's five of us that sleep in this car, and another five who sleep in the other car."
He bought the car with his brother and said that it cost them several weeks' worth of salaries each, but having it allows them to travel from Denver to the mountains. He said they couldn't find work in the city and heard that the resort towns had plenty of jobs that paid well.
He said, "If you need me to clean a bathroom, I'll do it. If you want me to wash your car, tell me and Ill go wash it quickly. What we want is to work."
The city said that since the influx of migrants, they have raised its homeless population by 500 percent. Mayor Ben Bohmfalk said in a statement, "We don't want to become a destination for people. We can't take more people than we have now. We're really over what we can handle."
A week ago, the mayor asked the state for more than $200,000 to help house and feed the migrants. He said that he wants to help, but knows that his town simply does not have the resources to help all of these people. He added, "It's below 10 degrees at night most nights and it will be for the next few months. If people sleep outside in those conditions, they might not make it."
An emergency center reportedly opened up to house about 60 homeless people at a time inside of a building with extra space. The rest sleep outside in the parking lot and try to stay warm. Bohmfalk said, "We don't want people to see these stories and think, oh, Carbondale is the place to go. They're really welcoming. We are absolutely not equipped to take more people."
Despite the challenging conditions that the Venezuelan migrants are facing in Carbondale, it appears to be better than what the migrants are used to, according to Hernandez. He added, "Life is already much better here than Venezuela. A thousand times better."
Early November is when the migrants first started pouring in and at the time, the mayor said, "We have a long history of absorbing immigrants into our communities and they're a critical part of our workforce." But, as more and more kept coming, Bohmfalk is now saying that the rise in homelessness is too much for the town to handle.
He said, "We're trying to be human beings. At the same time, we have to maintain some guardrails and some limits on what we commit to because we just cannot be the destination for more people."
The issue is that the posh ski resort town, which is a 30-minute drive away from the high-end ski resort town of Aspen, there are zero homeless shelters. The city of Denver currently has roughly 2,600 migrants in shelters and around 200 on the streets.
Carbondale is described as a "small town with a big heart," known for its luxury ski chalet homes. The town itself is facing its own housing crisis, as reported by the Daily Mail, and so the Venezuelan migrants are sleeping in their cars. With the weather dropping as low as 10 degrees at night, the migrants are sleeping five or more to a car.
Even with the reported job opportunities, Zillow states that the cheapest property currently on the market is $720,000, with most houses valued at nearly $2 million. There are a few small homeless shelters in Aspen, but those are typically filled with long waitlists.
Edgar Hernandez spoke with 9News, stating that he and four other of his friends are living in the back of his Honda. He said, "In the car with my friends. There's five of us that sleep in this car, and another five who sleep in the other car."
He bought the car with his brother and said that it cost them several weeks' worth of salaries each, but having it allows them to travel from Denver to the mountains. He said they couldn't find work in the city and heard that the resort towns had plenty of jobs that paid well.
He said, "If you need me to clean a bathroom, I'll do it. If you want me to wash your car, tell me and Ill go wash it quickly. What we want is to work."
The city said that since the influx of migrants, they have raised its homeless population by 500 percent. Mayor Ben Bohmfalk said in a statement, "We don't want to become a destination for people. We can't take more people than we have now. We're really over what we can handle."
A week ago, the mayor asked the state for more than $200,000 to help house and feed the migrants. He said that he wants to help, but knows that his town simply does not have the resources to help all of these people. He added, "It's below 10 degrees at night most nights and it will be for the next few months. If people sleep outside in those conditions, they might not make it."
An emergency center reportedly opened up to house about 60 homeless people at a time inside of a building with extra space. The rest sleep outside in the parking lot and try to stay warm. Bohmfalk said, "We don't want people to see these stories and think, oh, Carbondale is the place to go. They're really welcoming. We are absolutely not equipped to take more people."
Despite the challenging conditions that the Venezuelan migrants are facing in Carbondale, it appears to be better than what the migrants are used to, according to Hernandez. He added, "Life is already much better here than Venezuela. A thousand times better."
Early November is when the migrants first started pouring in and at the time, the mayor said, "We have a long history of absorbing immigrants into our communities and they're a critical part of our workforce." But, as more and more kept coming, Bohmfalk is now saying that the rise in homelessness is too much for the town to handle.
He said, "We're trying to be human beings. At the same time, we have to maintain some guardrails and some limits on what we commit to because we just cannot be the destination for more people."
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Comments
2023-12-21T12:48-0600 | Comment by: Kevin
Obviously, the town is filled with xenophobic white racists who refuse to let illegal aliens, I mean fine migrants move in with them. They probably refuse to learn the languages and cultures as well. The government needs to forcefully remove the white racists from their homes and give them to the much better migrant people who know capitalism is hateful.
2023-12-21T12:49-0600 | Comment by: Kevin
Obviously, the town is filled with xenophobic white racists who refuse to let illegal aliens, I mean fine migrants move in with them. They probably refuse to learn the languages and cultures as well. The government needs to forcefully remove the white racists from their homes and give them to the much better migrant people who know capitalism is hateful.
2023-12-21T12:49-0600 | Comment by: Kevin
Obviously, the town is filled with xenophobic white racists who refuse to let illegal aliens, I mean fine migrants move in with them. They probably refuse to learn the languages and cultures as well. The government needs to forcefully remove the white racists from their homes and give them to the much better migrant people who know capitalism is hateful.
2023-12-21T15:05-0600 | Comment by: Harry
Welcome to the DEEP BLUE state of Colorado, or Colofornia, whatever !!
2023-12-21T15:17-0600 | Comment by: Cliff
This is a very small town, similar to the one I grew up in. I wonder if all citizens can come start to come together with a a base of beliefs: "Closed border/Law and order". This should not be a political ideology but American.
2023-12-21T15:28-0600 | Comment by: Karen
They can call their supreme court for help or better yet ring Joey he's not busy.
2023-12-21T15:29-0600 | Comment by: Karen
They can call their supreme court for help or better yet ring Joey he's not busy.
2023-12-21T17:25-0600 | Comment by: T
I'm a little further north in Montana, and there has been a sudden influx here, too. There is zero available housing & no shelters anywhere but Billings & Missoula.
2023-12-21T17:25-0600 | Comment by: T
I'm a little further north in Montana, and there has been a sudden influx here, too. There is zero available housing & no shelters anywhere but Billings & Missoula.
2023-12-21T18:16-0600 | Comment by: Bruce
You have to think about how bad Chavez/Maduro have been for Venezuela. It was a thriving country until they took over. So iralwaysis with the Marxists!
2023-12-21T23:43-0600 | Comment by: Julie
Well, feel very sorry for them. All over America is being filled to much to capacity with illegal migration. Where I live is over filled. We just did a coat, blankets, sleeping bag Christmas drive to help. I wish there ad more we could do. Maybe check sone other places in Colorado Pagosa or Durango
2023-12-21T23:43-0600 | Comment by: Julie
Well, feel very sorry for them. All over America is being filled to much to capacity with illegal migration. Where I live is over filled. We just did a coat, blankets, sleeping bag Christmas drive to help. I wish there ad more we could do. Maybe check sone other places in Colorado Pagosa or Durango
2023-12-22T14:11-0600 | Comment by: Jim
Here's a solution, deport every one of them and send them back to Mexico so they can find their way back to Venezuela where they came from. Problem solved!
2023-12-22T14:11-0600 | Comment by: Jim
Here's a solution, deport every one of them and send them back to Mexico so they can find their way back to Venezuela where they came from. Problem solved!
2023-12-26T09:51-0600 | Comment by: Laurence
I wrote a truthful comment and it was blocked! Why? If the border was properly sealed, they would never be here.