Caraveo immigration bills push for $1.4B for cities, more funds for police
DENVER (KDVR) — U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo hopes to solve some of the issues at the U.S. border with Mexico through a package of bills.
The Democratic freshman congresswoman from Colorado’s 8th Congressional District unveiled her plan on Thursday. She said the measures could face issues if Democrats cannot convince Republican House leaders to take up the bills.
“We need to apply pressure to those in charge, like the speaker, to say: A lot of our members are interested in this. Let’s put votes to the floor and have the House figure it out in front of the American people,” Caraveo said.
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Caraveo is leading the charge on two measures.
The first, which she called the cornerstone of the package, looks to take the burden off local taxpayers in cities like Denver. Instead, the first measure would allocate $1.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help shelter migrants and fund local hospitals impacted by the influx of patients. The money would go to border cities and interior cities like Denver that have not seen a lot of federal funding.
The other measure Caraveo introduced would increase resources for law enforcement to reduce the number of human trafficking victims and the number of illegal drugs coming across the U.S. southern border.
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Caraveo is a cosponsor for the final three measures, which look to set up a system to hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, like the one in Aurora, accountable for making sure detainees are not living in poor or dehumanizing conditions. The remaining bills aim to speed up the process for a work permit from 180 days to 30 days and create new citizenship pathways for certain groups, like people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
On this week’s “Colorado Point of View,” political analysts break down whether the measures will stand a chance on “Colorado Point of View” this Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on Colorado’s Very Own Channel 2.
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