AURORA, Colo. — Local nonprofits that helped immigrants find housing are pushing back against accusations they conspired with Denver and state officials to deliberately send immigrants to Aurora.
The leaders of ViVe Wellness and Papagayo told Denver7 they are used to receiving hateful messages and threats because of the work they do helping immigrants. But those messages have picked up in the last few weeks as Aurora has become the focus of national attention amid the presidential race.
On Monday, the Aurora City Council approved a measure that will allow the city to investigate who provided grants that were used by nonprofits to help relocate immigrants coming from the southern border.
For the past couple of years, ViVe Wellness and Papagayo have been helping immigrants find housing around the Denver metro. The two received contracts from the City of Denver to carry out this work. However, the nonprofits said the immigrants led their own housing search.
According to leaders of the two nonprofits, the immigrants looked for affordable housing wherever they could find it, including in Aurora. Many chose to be near other immigrants due to relationships that were formed in Denver shelters.
“These are Colorado families and children that have chosen to live here and chosen to live where they are,” said Yoli Casas, executive director of ViVe Wellness. “Our goal and our job is to, just, like we have done with many people from Colorado who need it is to support them.”
Casas and Marielena Suarez, chief executive director of Papagayo, told Denver7 they did not conspire with Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston to move immigrants into Aurora. They also said they were never told, directed or pressured to move immigrants to Aurora.
“No, not at all,” said Suarez.
Casas and Suarez said Aurora city officials who want to investigate them will make things worse for immigrants who’ve already been through so much.
“Now we have a request by a city to demand something that is going to create even more fear and is going to invade people’s privacy. That’s not okay, and that’s not who we are as Coloradans,” said Suarez. “Just remember who we are as a state, as a community, and do not be part of the game because it’s just a game, to be honest.”
Both Casas and Suarez have been attacked online following a conservative think tank’s article about Aurora last month. One of the authors of the article also singled them out in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Several people commented on the post, accusing the nonprofits of money laundering.
“We don’t have time to be looking at those things,” said Casas. “There is a lot of work to do, which we need to do. We are surrounded by wonderful people, lots of citizens that want to help, entities that want to help. And there’s just no time to be looking at those things really, to be honest.”
Suarez also pointed out that nonprofits work based on reimbursement.
“We do not have the money ahead. We have to provide the payment, then we get reimbursed,” said Suarez.
Suarez and Casas said they have tried to ignore everything being said about them, focusing instead on the work they’ve been doing. They said they hope things will die down after the presidential election.
“The fear culture has been used for decades around this time of the year when we are about to make a big decision as a nation. It is important to go back in time and to pay attention to the patterns,” said Suarez.
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