FILE – Venezuelan migrants greet marchers who came to show support for them outside Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso, Texas, Jan. 7, 2023, the day before President Joe Biden’s first visit to the southern border. In late 2022, Venezuelans crossing into Texas from Mexico found Denver was a cheaper bus ride from the border city of El Paso than many of the U.S.’ better-known metropolises, and Denver offered migrants food and shelter. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

       Lincoln Montero eats outside a motel designated for migrants after helping his aunt Yesenia sell home-cooked Venezuelan-style food to fellow Venezuelan migrants sheltering here in Denver, Colorado, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Montero said he traveled to Denver the week before, to unite with his aunt who has been here four months. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

       FILE – Motorists move northbound along South Broadway as the skyline of Denver stands as a backdrop Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Englewood, Colorado. Denver has been disrupted by an influx of largely Venezuelan migrants who head north from Mexico, becoming a flashpoint in elections locally and nationally. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

       Yesenia Montero sells home-cooked Venezuelan-style food to fellow Venezuelan migrants sheltering at a motel designated for migrants in Denver, Colorado, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Montero said she traveled to Denver four months prior after hearing the city offered migrants housing and food, after spending four days in Washington D.C. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

       FILE – Migrants rest at a shelter in Denver, Colorado, Jan. 6, 2023. In late 2022, Venezuelans crossing into Texas from Mexico found Denver was a cheaper bus ride from the border city of El Paso than many of the United States’ better-known metropolises. And the liberal, fast-growing city offers migrants food and shelter. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert, File)

       Alvaro Machado sells packaged food brands from South America out of the back of his car outside a motel designated for migrants in Denver, Colorado, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Machado, from Venezuela, said he came to Denver six months ago. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

       FILE – Phill Cady wears a t-shirt with a photo of former President Donald Trump, who is running for reelection, as he holds a sign during a “Take Our Border Back” rally on Feb. 3, 2024, in Quemado, Texas. Trump has moved anti-immigration sentiment to center stage in U.S. politics. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

       FILE – Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, right, and Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, greet supporters at a rally in Mexico City’s main square, the Zocalo, July 1, 2019. Immigration is not part of Mexico’s political conversation as the country gears up for its presidential vote on June 2. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

       Migrants get a hot meal at the Casa INDI Home and dining room for the poor, a shelter in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, April 11, 2024. Migrants are transforming this prosperous industrial city, but aren’t part of Mexico’s political conversation as the country gears up for its presidential vote on June 2. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

       A Haitian migrant worker stacks boxes at a store near a market in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, April 11, 2024. Haitian and Central American migrants are transforming this prosperous industrial city, but the new arrivals aren’t part of Mexico’s political conversation as the country gears up for its presidential vote on June 2. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

       FILE – Venezuelan migrants greet marchers who came to show support for them outside Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso, Texas, Jan. 7, 2023, the day before President Joe Biden’s first visit to the southern border. In late 2022, Venezuelans crossing into Texas from Mexico found Denver was a cheaper bus ride from the border city of El Paso than many of the U.S.’ better-known metropolises, and Denver offered migrants food and shelter. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

       Lincoln Montero eats outside a motel designated for migrants after helping his aunt Yesenia sell home-cooked Venezuelan-style food to fellow Venezuelan migrants sheltering here in Denver, Colorado, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Montero said he traveled to Denver the week before, to unite with his aunt who has been here four months. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

       FILE – Motorists move northbound along South Broadway as the skyline of Denver stands as a backdrop Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Englewood, Colorado. Denver has been disrupted by an influx of largely Venezuelan migrants who head north from Mexico, becoming a flashpoint in elections locally and nationally. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

       Yesenia Montero sells home-cooked Venezuelan-style food to fellow Venezuelan migrants sheltering at a motel designated for migrants in Denver, Colorado, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Montero said she traveled to Denver four months prior after hearing the city offered migrants housing and food, after spending four days in Washington D.C. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

       FILE – Migrants rest at a shelter in Denver, Colorado, Jan. 6, 2023. In late 2022, Venezuelans crossing into Texas from Mexico found Denver was a cheaper bus ride from the border city of El Paso than many of the United States’ better-known metropolises. And the liberal, fast-growing city offers migrants food and shelter. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert, File)

       Alvaro Machado sells packaged food brands from South America out of the back of his car outside a motel designated for migrants in Denver, Colorado, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Machado, from Venezuela, said he came to Denver six months ago. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

       FILE – Phill Cady wears a t-shirt with a photo of former President Donald Trump, who is running for reelection, as he holds a sign during a “Take Our Border Back” rally on Feb. 3, 2024, in Quemado, Texas. Trump has moved anti-immigration sentiment to center stage in U.S. politics. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

       FILE – Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, right, and Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, greet supporters at a rally in Mexico City’s main square, the Zocalo, July 1, 2019. Immigration is not part of Mexico’s political conversation as the country gears up for its presidential vote on June 2. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

       Migrants get a hot meal at the Casa INDI Home and dining room for the poor, a shelter in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, April 11, 2024. Migrants are transforming this prosperous industrial city, but aren’t part of Mexico’s political conversation as the country gears up for its presidential vote on June 2. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

       A Haitian migrant worker stacks boxes at a store near a market in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, April 11, 2024. Haitian and Central American migrants are transforming this prosperous industrial city, but the new arrivals aren’t part of Mexico’s political conversation as the country gears up for its presidential vote on June 2. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

       FILE – Venezuelan migrants greet marchers who came to show support for them outside Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso, Texas, Jan. 7, 2023, the day before President Joe Biden’s first visit to the southern border. In late 2022, Venezuelans crossing into Texas from Mexico found Denver was a cheaper bus ride from the border city of El Paso than many of the U.S.’ better-known metropolises, and Denver offered migrants food and shelter. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

       Lincoln Montero eats outside a motel designated for migrants after helping his aunt Yesenia sell home-cooked Venezuelan-style food to fellow Venezuelan migrants sheltering here in Denver, Colorado, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Montero said he traveled to Denver the week before, to unite with his aunt who has been here four months. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

       BRIGHTON, Colo. — Republican activists gathered in a school lunchroom last month to hear political pitches from candidates and agreed on the top issue in the Denver suburbs these days: immigration.

       The area has been disrupted by the arrival of largely Venezuelan migrants coming north through Mexico, they said. Virtually everyone in the meeting said they were uncomfortable with the new population, w ...

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