Join Chalkbeat Colorado’s free day by day e-newsletter to get the most recent reporting from us, plus curated information from different Colorado retailers, delivered to your inbox.
The Trump administration says a decide ought to reject Denver Public Colleges’ try to dam immigration enforcement actions at colleges as a result of the district can’t present that it’s occurred anyplace or that the prospect of enforcement has triggered ample hurt.
That’s based on a movement filed by attorneys for the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety. Denver Public Colleges sued the federal division on Feb. 12 in an try to void a Trump administration coverage that clears the best way for immigration enforcement to happen at “delicate places,” together with colleges, youngster care facilities, church buildings, and hospitals.
Denver Public Colleges argued that pupil attendance had “decreased noticeably” since the Trump administration rescinded a decades-old coverage final month that mentioned immigration enforcement ought to solely happen at delicate places if there’s fast hazard to the general public.
The college district additionally argued that it had been “compelled to divert assets from its academic mission to arrange for immigration arrests on DPS faculty grounds.”
The college district filed the lawsuit every week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out raids at condo complexes in Denver and Aurora on Feb. 5. In authorized filings, district officers described terrified college students and oldsters, anguished academics, and diverted faculty buses.
In its response Friday, the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety mentioned there have been no raids at colleges in Denver or elsewhere for the reason that coverage was rescinded. The division argued that the drops in Denver’s pupil attendance weren’t brought on by the altering steerage.
“Fairly, the proof reveals that any drop is the results of fears amongst college students and oldsters, not any precise enforcement actions by DHS at colleges, and should relate to false stories of immigration enforcement at colleges or enforcement actions that didn’t happen on faculty grounds or at bus stops,” the division’s movement says.
The division additionally argued that Denver Public Colleges leaders misunderstood the earlier coverage about delicate places. That coverage, variations of which date again to 1993, “didn’t bar immigration enforcement actions at colleges,” the movement says. Fairly, it mentioned such actions have been permitted “both with prior higher-level approval or underneath exigent circumstances.” The earlier coverage was final up to date in 2021 underneath then-President Joe Biden.
The brand new steerage, issued quickly after President Donald Trump took workplace in January, instructs ICE brokers to make use of discretion “and a wholesome dose of widespread sense.”
“DPS has not proven that the 2021 Steering would have prohibited the DHS enforcement motion taken on February 5, 2025, which was not at a college or bus cease,” the division’s movement mentioned, referring to the raids in Denver and Aurora.
“DPS’s argument that it’ll face hurt from immigration enforcement provided that DHS operates underneath the 2025 Steering is thus too speculative to indicate irreparable hurt,” it mentioned.
The division argued that barring immigration enforcement actions at or close to Denver Public Colleges’ 207 colleges or its bus stops “might considerably restrict immigration enforcement.”
“A lot of Denver is shut to a faculty,” the movement says.
The division additionally challenged Denver Public Colleges’ argument that the Trump administration coverage, issued in a pair of January memos from the then-acting administrators of the Division of Homeland Safety and ICE, had not been publicly launched and amounted to “a closing company motion that occurred fully behind closed doorways.”
The division described the memos as “merely an inside advisement” to immigration enforcement brokers and mentioned one of many memos is now posted on ICE’s web site. The web site reveals that the Jan. 31 memo was posted on Feb. 18, after the Denver district filed its lawsuit.
In response to an analogous lawsuit from a number of non secular organizations, a federal decide in Maryland on Monday briefly blocked the Trump administration’s coverage with regard to ICE enforcement at church buildings and different homes of worship. However the ruling doesn’t prolong to varsities.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.