A roughly $400,000 contract to provide shelter for newly-arrived immigrants in Denver has now ballooned to up to $25 million, another sign of the crisis that has placed the city under tremendous fiscal strain within the past year.

Under the contract that the Denver City Council approved on Monday, Denver guarantees to spend at least $23.4 million between the beginning of 2023 and June 30, 2024, and perhaps up to $25 million.

The contract with Colorado Hospitality Services will pay for hotel units for immigrants arriving in Denver after illegally crossing the country’s southern border.

The council originally approved $378,486 back in May to pay for rooms, laundry and front desk employees. Back then, the city was housing around 400 immigrants, according to the city’s immigration dashboard.

As of Monday, the city is housing 3,782 immigrants.

The money will come from the city’s Border Crisis Special Revenue Fund and the council will consider a $25 million cash infusion from the general and capital improvement funds.

As the border crisis spilled into Denver, the city found itself struggling to house, feed and transport the tens of thousands of immigrants who have arrived from the border.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston earlier warned councilmembers that the city has reached a breaking point and told his agency heads to look for budget cuts in anticipation of the spending ahead.

“We do not have space to add more folks that arrive nor do we have staff to support them,” Johnston has said.

The mayor also said that, if the current influx of immigrants persists, the city could be spending $180 million this year.

Johnston and members of Colorado’s Democratic delegation have urged Congress to take urgent action to support communities struggling under the weight of the growing crisis.

Yesterday, Gov. Jared Polis echoed the sentiment. 

“I continue to call on Congress to improve border security and provide relief to interior states. Rather than complain endlessly about lack of border security, let’s finally secure the border,” he said. 

Over the weekend, U.S. senators came out with a $118 billion compromise that pairs tens of billions of dollars in wartime aid for Ukraine with new border laws aimed at shrinking the historic number of people who have illegally crossed the U.S. border from Mexico to seek asylum.

The legislation faced immediate opposition from many Republicans in both chambers, and House GOP leaders said it would not even receive a vote.

On Monday, Senate Republicans resisted advancing the proposal, signaling a likely defeat for the measure, the Associated Press reported, noting that Sen. Mitch McConnell has struggled to marshal his conference to support the package.

The proposal would overhaul the asylum system with tougher standards and faster enforcement. Under the measure, immigrants would have to show during initial screenings that they have a reasonable possibility of being granted asylum. Migrants would also be barred from making an asylum claim if they are found to have a criminal history, resettled in another country or could have found safety if they had resettled in their home country.

Immigrants who cross the border illegally between a port of entry would be detained and receive a screening within 10 to 15 days. Those who pass the new screening would then receive a work permit, be placed in a supervision program and have their asylum case decided within 90 days. And immigrants who seek asylum in between ports of entry would be put into detention while they await the initial screening for an asylum claim.

The proposal calls for a large growth in detention capacity and for a large expansion of a Biden administration program that tracks families who arrive at the border while they await the screenings for their asylum claim. The program was developed as an alternative to detention for families.

Early in the crisis, city leaders decided Denver would pay to house or transport immigrants to the city of their choice.

As of Feb. 5, the city supported more than 38,380 immigrants at a cost of more than $42 million. The city is operating seven non-congregate shelters for the newcomers, plus two congregate shelters for homeless immigrants.

The city has also partnered with the Archdiocese of Denver to provide “bridge housing” for a limited number of families with children.

Despite state and federal grants totaling more than $14 million, Denver taxpayers are shouldering the bulk of the costs.

Traditionally, immigration has been an issue relegated to gateway cities, such as Chicago and New York City, or states that share the U.S. border with Mexico, such as Texas and Arizona.

Not anymore.

Denver is more than 600 miles from El Paso, Texas, the closest international border.

Officials have speculated that immigrants are drawn to Denver because of its relative proximity to the Mexico border, while others believe the appeal lies in its status as a “sanctuary city.”

Generally speaking, a sanctuary city describes municipalities that establish policies discouraging local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities. In 2019, Colorado adopted a law whose provisions fall under the broad outlines of what constitutes a “sanctuary” state. The law, signed by Polis, forbids a law enforcement officer from arresting or detaining an individual based upon a “detainer request” by immigration authorities.

Two years before, the Denver City Council passed an ordinance that prohibits “city employees from collecting information on immigration or citizenship status; prohibits the sharing of any other information about individuals for purposes of immigration enforcement; and, memorializes predominant practices by prohibiting use of city resources or city cooperation with civil immigration enforcement.”

Reporter Nico Brambila and The Associated Press contributed to this article.