With the last temporary shelter now closed, Denver officials are no longer tracking the daily number of immigrants arriving in the city, The Denver Gazette has learned.

Over the past 22 months, nearly 43,000 immigrants have arrived in Denver. Most of the immigrants were from South and Central America who crossed America’s southern border illegally.

The last shelter was closed on Oct. 3, Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spokesperson, said.

Denver saw the first migration wave when 90 immigrants were dropped off downtown and left to wander in the cold.

During the last wave, around the January timeframe, Denver was seeing hundreds arrive daily. In the last five days before officials stopped tracking new arrivals, there were five in five days from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3.

Early in the humanitarian crisis, Denver officials decided that local taxpayers would assume responsibility for the response. Primarily borne locally, the cost to date is roughly $76 million, Ewing said.

It is unknown where the immigrants in Denver may have crossed the border, but given the city’s proximity to El Paso, Texas many — if not most — likely came through the Pass of the North.

At the height of January’s surge, when Denver’s temporary shelters were busting at the seams with more than 5,000 immigrants, Texas officials estimated about three in 10 at the border were heading to Colorado.

Initially, Denver officials believed the draw to Colorado’s most populous city was its relative proximity to the U.S. border with Mexico. But Texas officials at the border blamed Denver’s offer of free shelter and onward travel to the immigrants’ desired cities.

“There’s a pull factor created by this, and the policies in Denver for paying for onward destinations,” Irene Gutiérrez, executive director of El Paso County Community Services in west Texas, earlier said.

Denver has purchased tens of thousands of plane, train and bus tickets, and among the immigrants’ popular destinations are Salt Lake City, Chicago and New York City. Earlier in the crisis, the decision to send immigrants to other states strained the relationship between Colorado officials and their counterparts in other states.

Others blamed Denver’s status as a “sanctuary city,” which refers to a designation given to municipalities and counties with policies that discourage local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

While local officials have denied this, they also ended the extended, free stays for the immigrants. At one point in the crisis, Denver taxpayers were paying for shelter stays of up to six weeks for families.

Although Denver does not track where these new immigrant arrivals wind up, the number of plane, train and bus tickets officials have purchased suggest about half have stayed.

Some of Denver’s neighboring communities have warily eyed the city’s handling of the crisis. Denver is surrounded by counties and cities that have deliberately avoided being tagged as a “sanctuary status.”

Last month, Castle Rock’s Town Council approved a motion to lay the groundwork to sue Colorado’s most populous city over its immigration policies.

A councilmember said Castle Rock needs to address the crisis in Denver that he said is spilling over into neighboring counties and cities.

“I would like to direct (the) town attorney to begin conversations with Douglas County, the Douglas County attorney, and then also other municipalities around the Front Range that feel that they have been impacted negatively because of Denver’s failed migrant policy,” said Castle Rock Councilmember Max Brooks.

“I believe we should join together and sue Denver into stopping bringing in additional migrants,” the councilmember said.

And in mid-April, Douglas County filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado over its “sanctuary” statutes that commissioners said have restricted local law enforcement officials from working with federal authorities on illegal immigration. The county argued the laws are unconstitutional and preempted by federal laws.

The lawsuit filed by El Paso and Douglas counties targeted a 2023 law that restricts the ability of state and local governments from making agreements with federal immigration officials over the detention of immigrants who are unlawfully staying in the country, as well as a 2019 statute that blocks local law enforcers from arresting or detaining an immigrant solely on the basis of a federal immigration detainer.

Current Colorado laws also prevent state judicial officials from sharing information with federal immigration officials.

During a townhall hosted by Colorado Politics, Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon likened the crisis in Denver to a growing leak.

“I appreciate (Denver) spending $180 million to clean the wet floors in the bathroom, but you just need to turn off the faucet,” Laydon said. “Denver needs to reverse its policy of being a sanctuary city.”