Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is traveling to Mexico City to take part in the Bloomberg CityLab.

The CityLab gathers more than 500 government officials and other professionals to discuss how local solutions can impact international policy, according to a release from the mayor’s office.

The eleventh CityLab convention began Monday and concludes Wednesday.

Bloomberg, the event organizer, is covering the cost of travel for Johnston and Joshua Posner, the city’s director of strategic initiatives. They are the only two city officials attending, according to the mayor’s office.

As part of the trip, Johnston will hold a “fireside chat” with Guatemala City, Guatemala’s Mayor Ricardo Quiñónez Lemus called “Migration: Finding a Balance.”

The chat will focus on the immigration crisis through the lens of two cities at the beginning and end of the journey to the United States.

The mayor’s office said the two will talk about lessons learned, what policies the respective cities have used to address the crisis and how each are juggling major population changes.

Early in the crisis, Denver opted to open its doors to those wishing to stay. In total, more than 43,000 people came through the Mile High City with about half opting to stay behind.

This placed a major financial strain on the city as it juggled various issues like housing affordability and homelessness and it was forced to make cuts to its 2024 budget.

Ultimately, Denver imposed a hiring freeze and cut tens of millions from its 2024 general fund budget to fund a $90 million emergency response to the immigration crisis.

The city did not spend all $90 million budgeted for 2024 and next year there is only $12.5 million earmarked for immigration services.

The aftershocks of the crisis continue to impact Denver and surrounding communities, however. Last month, Castle Rock’s Town Council approved a motion to lay the groundwork to sue Colorado’s most populous city over its immigration policies.

Others have suggested Denver cherry-picked immigrants to stay while relocating others to Aurora without the latter’s approval. This caused conservative Aurora Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky to introduce a resolution directing the city manager to investigate the claim.

The Aurora City Council voted 6-2 to adopt the resolution.

A spokesperson from the Denver mayor’s office defended the city’s response.

“Denver took what many saw as a crisis and turned it into opportunity,” the mayor’s spokesperson said. “Had we turned our back, there is little doubt that many of the 43,000 people who arrived in Denver over the last two years would today be sleeping on the streets rather than in their own beds. We stand proudly with our immigrant community and with our nonprofit partners, whose dedication and life-saving work should be applauded, not demonized.”

Denver stopped tracking daily immigrant arrivals last week and closed the last immigrant shelter earlier this month.

Denver Gazette reporters Kyla Pearce and Nico Brambila contributed to this report.