The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Colorado’s and Denver’s top elected officials to overturn “sanctuary laws” that limit federal immigration enforcement in the city and state, according to a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit names Gov. Jared Polis, state Attorney General Phil Weiser, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins, the City Council and the city and county of Denver.
President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to overturn several laws, including a 2023 measure that prohibits law enforcement from keeping people in jail on immigration detainers and one from 2021 that bars state employees from sharing people’s personal information with federal immigration officials.
The complaint begins by citing a viral video of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua forcing their way into apartments at the troubled Edge of Lowry apartment complex in Aurora at the end of 2024, which sparked a national furor over immigration policy in the weeks before the election.
The apartments later were closed by Aurora officials.
Tren de Aragua’s foothold in the U.S. is “the direct byproduct of the sanctuary policies pushed by the State of Colorado,” federal attorneys wrote in the complaint.
“This is a suit to put an end to those disastrous policies and restore the supremacy of federal immigration law,” the lawsuit states.
Federal officials also quoted Douglas County Commissioner Kevin Van Winkle that the state’s laws pose “a serious public safety issue.”
In a statement, Polis’ office denied that Colorado is a sanctuary state but declined to comment “on the merits of the lawsuit.”
“The state of Colorado works with local, state and federal law enforcement regularly, and we value our partnerships with local, county and federal law enforcement agencies to make Colorado safer. If the courts say that any Colorado law is not valid then we will follow the ruling,” spokesperson Eric Maruyama said in a statement.
Denver officials said the city follows all local, state and federal laws and is ready to defend its values, city officials said in a statement.
“Denver will not be bullied or blackmailed, least of all by an administration that has little regard for the law and even less for the truth,” city officials said Friday.
Colorado’s sanctuary laws hinder the federal government’s ability to regulate immigration, U.S. attorneys wrote in the complaint. The state’s laws also violate the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and discriminate against and attempt to regulate the federal government, the lawsuit states.
Along with state laws, the complaint names a Denver ordinance prohibiting police from holding people on civil immigration detainers and a 2017 executive order by former Mayor Michael Hancock that, in part, calls for “protecting the rights and liberties of immigrants and refugees” and helping children and families separated by “a broken federal immigration system.”
The lawsuit came as Colorado lawmakers were debating a bill to expand the state’s existing immigration protections.
Senate Bill 276 also would bar local governments or other public entities from sharing data with immigration authorities, and it would block Immigraton and Customs Enforcement agents from entering non-public areas of public buildings without a warrant.
The bill’s Democratic sponsors said the bill is necessary to protect immigrants’ due process rights and that immigration enforcement was the federal government’s job — not that of local authorities.
House Republicans, meanwhile, had argued that the bill would prompt blowback from the Trump administration, and they unsuccessfully attempted to amend the bill to invalidate it should Trump try to block federal funding as a result of the bill’s passage.
The House ultimately passed the bill on an initial voice vote early Friday evening. Legislators are likely to pass it fully in the coming days. After some final procedural moves, it would then move to Polis.
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