Texas officials shipped their first chartered bus with 41 immigrants to Denver Thursday.

Officials with the City and County of Denver’s Joint Information Center (JIC) disclosed Thursday that this was the first instance in which another state had coordinated and sent immigrants to the Mile High City.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a press release Thursday that this was the first busload, implying others could follow.

Mikayla Ortega, spokesperson for the Denver Office of Emergency Management, said the city was given less than 24 hours’ notice.

“We’re trying to ascertain if this is a one off,” Ortega said.

The busload, she said, originated from McAllen, Texas — a border city that extends to the Rio Grande river, which forms a 1,255-mile segment of the natural boundary between the U.S. and Mexico.

“Texas’ overwhelmed and overrun border communities should not have to shoulder the flood of illegal immigration due to President Biden’s reckless open border policies, like his mass catch and release without court dates or any way to track them,” Abbott said in the release. “Until the President and his Administration step up and fulfill their constitutional duty to secure the border, the State of Texas will continue busing migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities like Denver to provide much-needed relief to our small border towns.”

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock called Abbot’s move “political theater” and a “stunt.” He also suggested sending the Texas governor a “bill” for the expenses Denver is incurring as it seeks to offer shelter and services to the immigrants.

“What is happening at the border, and what is showing up at the doorsteps of cities across the country, is a humanitarian crisis,” Hancock said. “What none of us need is more political theater and partisan gamesmanship pitting jurisdictions against each other and exacerbating this situation instead of advocating for real solutions to this challenge.”

The Denver mayor added: “If Gov. Abbott thinks he’s going to win over allies to his cause here in Denver with this latest stunt, he’s going to be sorely mistaken. And we’re more than happy to send him the bill for any additional support we have to provide now because of his failure at managing his own state.”

Renae Eze, an Abbott spokesperson, did not immediately respond Thursday to an email seeking comment.

‘Self-declared sanctuary cities’

Abbott made international headlines last year when he sent immigrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ D.C. residence and to Martha’s Vineyard.

Since employing this busing strategy last spring, the Republican Texas governor has transported more than 19,000 immigrants to the states of Democratic governors with “self-declared sanctuary cities,” according to Abbotts’ office.

Earlier this year, Gov. Jared Polis was criticized by the mayors of New York City and Chicago for sending immigrants in Denver to their cities. At that time, Denver had provided bus tickets for 1,900 immigrants to travel to more than 100 U.S. cities.

Despite their diverging world views, Abbot and Polis do agree on this: Immigration is a federal problem that Congress has failed to address, leaving cities and states to bear the brunt of the crisis.

Five shelters in Denver on Thursday housed more than 1,200 immigrants, JIC data shows.

More than 10,000 immigrants from Central and South America have arrived in Denver Since early December, putting a strain on city resources.

An estimated 70% of arriving immigrants, city and state officials have said, are stopping in Denver on their way to somewhere else.

As of last week, Denver had spent roughly $16 million on the humanitarian response, only $900,000 of which has been reimbursed by the federal government.

City officials have stopped short of saying they would turn immigrants away.

‘Any influx is going to be very hard’

The majority of the new arrivals are from Venezuela, a country that has descended into economic, humanitarian and political chaos under President Nicolás Maduro.

The influx of immigrants illustrates the calamity that’s been unfolding at the U.S. border for years, a crisis that has begun spilling over into cities in America’s interior — including Denver — which is more than 600 miles from El Paso, Texas, the closest U.S. border.

City officials have said immigrants are choosing Denver because of El Paso’s relative proximity to the Mile High City, in terms of traveling with relative ease by bus.

Officials noted that the bus fare to Denver is less expensive from West Texas than to other places in the country. Organizations that support the immigrant community also highlight the resources and diversity in the community, as well as its status as a “sanctuary city,” as reasons attracting the immigrants to Denver.

Many have tied the surge of immigrants to the expiration of Title 42, the federal policy first deployed by the Trump administration to swiftly expel immigrants to help slow spread of COVID-19.

Immigrants apprehended under Title 42 were returned to their home countries, or sent back to Mexico.

Anticipating the policy’s end, the number of immigrants at the U.S. border with Mexico has swelled.

In a scramble, the Biden administration said those who crossed into the U.S. illegally won’t be eligible for asylum.

“Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said last week.

“We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S,” he said.

In Denver, the surge of immigrants has become palpable in the last few days, straining resources — once again — to a breaking point.

Indeed, local nonprofits that have helped Denver temporarily house immigrants from South and Central America for months have been bracing for the new swell with the sunset of a pandemic-era border restriction that ended May 11.

“All the shelters are pretty much at capacity,” Kristen Baluyot, Denver metro social services director for the Salvation Army, said last week. “So, any influx is going to be very hard for us to respond to.”