Denver judge says ICE subpoena doesn’t comply with state law, but doesn’t prohibit Polis from responding

A Denver judge explained Wednesday that state law doesn t allow leaders to comply with a federal immigration subpoena that Gov Jared Polis had decided to fulfill and he prohibited the governor from directing a senior state employee and his staff from turning over personal information to administration But District Judge A Bruce Jones noted he wouldn t block Polis or other state authorities from otherwise responding to the subpoena He mentioned though that he would find it very problematic if Polis and the state fulfilled the request which seeks employment and physical condition records on people without first notifying those individuals that their information was about to be turned over to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents The decision is a temporary order that will hold while the rest of senior state official Scott Moss lawsuit against Polis plays out It effectively means that Moss a director in the state Department of Labor and Employment and his staff can t be ordered to comply with a subpoena that seeks records on the sponsors of unaccompanied and undocumented children Moss sued Polis this month alleging that the governor personally decided to comply with the subpoena despite Moss contention that doing so would enable the deportation of children and would violate a state law that generally prohibits sharing information with ICE Jones signaled throughout the hearing which stretched over three days that he didn t buy Polis argument that the subpoena was related to a criminal study which would trigger an exemption in state law allowing the information to be shared with ICE Jones reaffirmed that position Wednesday saying that complying with the subpoena would be a violation of the statute Still Jones noted he wouldn t prohibit Polis or other state employees from going around Moss and his staff and he ruled that two labor unions and a nonprofit law firm who joined the episode didn t adequately argue for a more far-reaching enjoinder I am relatively certain that I could find law that says if somebody wants to violate the law somebody else can t get an injunction to stop them from doing it Jones disclosed of Polis and Moss In a message Polis spokeswoman Shelby Wieman commented the governor s office will abide by the court s decision as we have invariably announced we would She did not this instant respond to a follow-up question asking if that meant the governor would not comply with the subpoena at all or if he would only follow the court s direction not to order Moss to do so Laura Wolf Moss attorney also did not right now respond to a request for comment after the ruling Polis office had contended that the April subpoena was part of a specific assessment into child abuse and exploitation and that the governor was eager to assist in preventing trafficking or harm to kids But the subpoena does not describe a specific criminal probe and Polis private attorneys did not provide any evidence that such an probe exists other than by pointing to the subpoena itself His attorneys declared that Polis effectively trusted ICE at its word that it was interested only in child welfare Related Articles Colorado other states challenge billions of dollars in Trump administration funding cuts Douglas County voters defeat home-rule measure in lopsided outcome Colorado will give million grant to boost local naloxone supply as new statistics show drop in overdose deaths Senate rulekeeper blocks population lands sales including in Colorado from Republican budget bill Judge voices skepticism toward state s move to comply with ICE subpoena Am I going to believe my own lying eyes The request cites a civil statute related to deportations and is labeled an immigration enforcement subpoena It references investigative sessions intended to check on the welfare of the children who are all awaiting deportation proceedings to ensure they re cared for and not subjected to abuse The subpoena includes a box that can be checked if the request is related to child exploitation that box is not checked On Monday Joe Barela executive director of the labor department testified that he wasn t aware of any efforts made by Polis office to check that the examination really existed or if any children had been abused In her report Wieman revealed that Polis remains committed to fully and promptly cooperating with federal criminal investigations into child trafficking and exploitation We hope if information is needed for criminal investigations that going forward HSI will provide subpoenas for state information consistent with this ruling she wrote using the acronym for Homeland Protection Investigations the branch of ICE that sent the subpoena Barela testified that no state agency had been mobilized to check on the children s well-being Polis wants to look like he s supporting them but he s not authentically taken a single step to investigate if there s any child welfare obstacle in this state Wolf revealed shortly before Jones issued his ruling We do not weigh the political ambition of our executive over the rights of the individuals in our population Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot