Denver, Colorado. For ProPublica.

After the Biden administration lifted asylum restrictions, thousands of migrants arrived in Denver, Colorado, where the city offered temporary housing and assistance with job placement. Denver’s mayor, Mike Johnston, was determined to support the newcomers but also faced the challenge of addressing a growing unhoused population.

In a pair of complex profiles, ProPublica reporter Anjeanette Damon explores the experiences of two individuals: Monica Navarro, who arrived in Denver from Venezuela with her family in January 2023 during a period when Texas Governor Greg Abbott was sending busloads of migrants to the city; and Tim Rogers, a Denver native who spent years on the streets before finally receiving a housing voucher.

At the peak of migrant arrivals, more than 300 people were coming to Denver daily, with over 4,000 residing in shelters and hundreds more sleeping outside. Meanwhile, the city’s unhoused population exceeded 5,800, causing resentment and criticism that the intense focus on migrants was taking resources away from unhoused residents.

Navarro and her husband Miker Silva met years ago in Miranda, Venezuela, fell in love, and built a life together. Living near the beach in Cua, she worked promotions while he was a bricklayer. After losing their first child, they had two daughters. But as Venezuela’s economy collapsed, hyperinflation made essentials like food and medicine unaffordable. Faced with these hardships, Navarro chose sterilization, despite wanting a son.

In 2018, they left for Peru, but after five years the economy there also turned sour. They decided to follow the millions of others on the journey to seek asylum in the United States.