Judge voices skepticism toward Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ move to comply with ICE subpoena in hearing

A Denver judge appeared unpersuaded Monday that a federal subpoena referencing child abuse gave Gov Jared Polis the latitude to side-step Colorado law and turn over personal information about undocumented children and their sponsors to immigration leadership It s one of those instances where Am I going to believe you or am I going to believe my own lying eyes District Judge A Bruce Jones notified Thomas Rogers III a private attorney representing Polis in a lawsuit filed by a state employee who contends that Polis directive to comply with the subpoena violates state law Jones also noted that Polis office hadn t appeared to seek any more information about the subpoena before complying with A senior state employee later testified that to his knowledge Polis office made no effort to determine if executives were really examining child abuse and the office did not provide assurances to state employees that the input requested would only be used to check on the child s welfare rather than to deport them The testimony and Jones skepticism came at the start of Monday s hearing in a state labor employee s lawsuit against Polis The employee Scott Moss argue that Polis order to turn over the personal information of people to federal immigration officials ran afoul of a law that generally prohibits information-sharing with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement The hearing is set to continue Tuesday afternoon after which Jones will decide whether to temporarily or permanently block Polis directive to comply with the subpoena Moss a director in the state Department of Labor and Employment has contended that the subpoena is intended to identify undocumented children for deportation while Polis attorneys have argued that the governor decided to fulfill the subpoena last month because it was related to a criminal review into whether unaccompanied kids were being cared for and not abused The subpoena which the department received in late April seeks personal information on the sponsors of unaccompanied and undocumented children to ensure that the children are cared for and not being exploited or abused Polis office has argued in statements to The Denver Post that the subpoena was a tailored and specific request for an probe regarding child exploitation abuse and trafficking While state law largely prohibits governmental employees from giving such information to ICE without a judge s order administrators here can do so if the request is part of a criminal scrutiny Pressed for evidence of such an research earlier this month Polis office referred The Post to the subpoena itself On Monday Rogers reiterated that Polis effectively trusted ICE and the plain language of the subpoena which was issued by ICE s criminal investigative branch It says it s a criminal inquiry We take it at its representation Rogers reported Related Articles Utah trainee arrested in Colorado is issued describes nightmare ICE detention How Rep Lauren Boebert s bill to delist gray wolves would affect Colorado s wolf reintroduction Charity fundraiser organizers send to CBI to urge faster action on rape kit backlog Man violently arrested by ICE in Denver courthouse bathroom as young child watched witness says Mesa County deputy who shared info about Utah college apprentice put on leave But Jones noted Monday that Polis argument that the subpoena was for criminal purposes wasn t very persuasive because that s not what the subpoena says The document refers to investigative programs that amount to a welfare check of the children who have been published to the custody of sponsors typically family members while the children await deportation proceedings The subpoena which is not signed by a judge is labeled as an immigration enforcement subpoena and it cites federal statute related to deportation Jones demanded Rogers to point him to the language in the subpoena that referenced a criminal inquiry After Rogers quoted from the subpoena s references to investigative engagements seeking to ensure children aren t being exploited Jones took a moment to reread the document He turned back to Rogers I m going to stick with my lying eyes he noted Rogers has argued that Moss as well as two labor unions and a nonprofit law firm that s joined the affair have no standing to sue Polis because Moss didn t personally have to comply and that he didn t face any repercussions for not doing so Joe Barela the executive director of the labor department and Moss boss testified Monday that while Polis initially decided not to comply with the subpoena the governor directed administrators to comply on May the same day he signed a law expanding prohibitions on sharing information with ICE Barela testified on behalf of the governor s office and of Polis whom Moss attorneys had initially yearned to testify Barela who stated his department received a separate ICE subpoena in March noted that he and the governor s office thought that if there could possibly be a chance that sponsors had children in their care who were accounted for and were being abused or exploited we required to make sure that we didn t prevent any inquiry from finding that out Still he announced his department was concerned about what the information could be used for and the agency sought assurances that the records would only be used for a criminal analysis But he acknowledged that he wasn t aware of any assurances the state had received that assuaged that concern before Polis decided to comply He also declared he wasn t aware of any efforts by the governor s office to determine if an scrutiny truly existed or that it had received any evidence that children were being abused Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot