Beware ‘Help’ From ‘Advocates’

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is between a rock and a hard place: Not only has he dealt with a flood of 40,000 migrants into the Mile High City since last year, now one encampment of migrants is demanding he capitulate to a list of eye-popping requests before they agree to move into city shelters.

The group of migrants, camping out under a bridge on property owned by Union Pacific for weeks now, issued the list of 13 demands on Monday. It included unlimited access to showers and access to “their own food with fresh, culturally appropriate ingredients provided by the City instead of premade meals” before they’d agree to clear out.

Other demands include housing assistance, “connection to employment support,” “a free immigration lawyer” and “privacy” within the shelter, plus a guarantee of “no sheriff sleeping inside & monitoring 24/7” in the shelter, as the migrants “are not criminals & won’t be treated as such.”

The list reads more like a tour rider from a particularly diva-ish rock band and less like a list of asks from people being offered countless freebies on the taxpayers’ dime — and it reeks of interloping by outside parties.

Put plainly: It’s hard to imagine so much entitlement coming from anyone but lefty crusaders. Indeed, the list was published on the Facebook page of Housekeys Action Network Denver, a homeless-advocacy group. A HAND member did the talking to the media, insisting: “The camp as a collective came up with a list of demands.” Right.

If HAND truly wanted to help these migrants, encouraging them to give up tent living and take the city up on offers of shelter would be the first step. But once again, the “advocates” put their own cause first.