The head of Colorado’s state employee union on Monday blasted Gov. Jared Polis’ decision to fulfill a federal immigration subpoena, calling it “morally reprehensible” as labor advocates and elected officials decried authorities’ widening crackdowns.
Questions mounted, too, over the legality of the governor’s move to turn over personal information to the agency leading the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, prompting a news conference that drew advocates as well as state lawmakers. Last week, a state official sued Polis to try to stop his office from responding to the subpoena from an arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We are outraged as state employees that our governor wanted us to actively support that assault on our community and (make) us, as state workers, accomplices in an illegal and morally reprehensible act,” Colorado WINS president Diane Byrne said during the news conference outside Denver city hall.
The frustration with Polis comes amid deepening division around federal immigration enforcement nationally. Marines and National Guard troops have been deployed in Los Angeles in response to protests against immigration enforcement. Speakers in Denver on Monday called for the release of a California labor leader who was injured and arrested by immigration authorities over the weekend.
Colorado WINS, along with the state’s AFL-CIO chapter, is set to join the lawsuit filed by Scott Moss, a director within the state Department of Labor and Employment, accusing Polis of violating state law that regulates how information can be shared with immigration authorities.
The suit accuses Polis of personally deciding to turn over personal information about the sponsors of unaccompanied, undocumented children to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite Moss’ protests in internal discussions that it was illegal and would violate the trust of immigrants.
Polis’ office has maintained that it can legally turn over the information because the subpoena is part of a “specific” criminal investigation regarding child abuse.
But his office has not provided evidence supporting that claim, beyond pointing to the subpoena itself. A copy of the subpoena obtained by JS does not describe a specific criminal investigation. It cites a civil statute related to deportations and describes “investigative activities” intended to proactively check on children and ensure their safety, rather than a response to allegations of abuse.
On Monday, Polis spokeswoman Shelby Wieman pointed to a recent statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about its efforts to check on children. The agency said it had found cases of child exploitation and abuse elsewhere among unaccompanied minors.
“These welfare checks are not primarily immigration enforcement focused,” DHS wrote of its efforts to find and contact undocumented children, “but if ICE agents or officers encounter individuals who are in the United States illegally, they take them into custody and process them for removal in accordance with federal immigration law.”
Several Democratic lawmakers attended Monday’s press conference, which came shortly after an initial court hearing in Moss’ lawsuit. One legislator — Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver — questioned how Polis “can continue to think that he can lead our state.”
She later deflected when asked if she was calling on Polis to resign.
Questions about investigation
Moss’ first hearing in Denver District Court was a largely administrative affair, with a more determinative hearing set for June 23.
Moss alleges that Polis initially declined to comply with a subpoena sent in late April by ICE, which sought employment and personal information about the sponsors of unaccompanied and undocumented children.
But, Moss wrote, the governor later “personally” decided to fulfill the request and ordered Moss and other state employees to comply. The subpoena, which is not signed by a judge, seeks personal information about the sponsors, who are typically relatives caring for the kids while they await deportation proceedings.
Polis’ reversal came shortly after he signed Senate Bill 276, which expands restrictions in the law limiting how state employees can share data with immigration authorities.
Polis’ decision violates state law, Moss alleges. He’s asking a judge to rule that Polis’ request is illegal. Through his lawyer, Polis has agreed not to fulfill the subpoena until a judge rules on the legality of the governor’s directive.
Wieman said the state — after allegedly resolving not to respond to the subpoena for roughly a month — now regretted the delay caused by Moss’ lawsuit.
Polis’ office repeatedly maintained that it could fulfill the subpoena because it was related to a “specific … investigation regarding child exploitation, abuse, and trafficking,” spokesman Eric Maruyama said Thursday. State law allows information-sharing with ICE if the information is part of a criminal investigation or if the subpoena is signed by a judge.
The subpoena refers to “investigative activities” and states that ICE is seeking employment information of sponsors “to ensure that these children are appropriately located, properly cared for, and are not subjected to crimes of human trafficking or other forms of exploitation.” The subpoena does not provide any indication that ICE has received allegations that misconduct is taking place. It does not reference a specific criminal investigation.
Above that description is a box that ICE officials could check if the subpoena was “in regard to an investigation involving child exploitation and/or transmission of child pornography via the internet.” The box is not checked. The statute cited in the subpoena relates to civil immigration enforcement and the “expedited removal of inadmissible arriving aliens.”
A spokesman for ICE did not return a message seeking comment last week.
“There is nothing on the face of the subpoena that suggests that this is related to a criminal investigation,” David Seligman, whose nonprofit law firm Towards Justice also joined Moss’ suit, said Monday.
Lawmakers also asked for details
Polis spokeswoman Wieman said Monday that officials carefully considered the state’s response “in accordance with Colorado law.”
When repeatedly asked if Polis’ office had received any evidence or indication of a specific ICE investigation into child abuse, Wieman pointed to the subpoena’s reference to “investigative activities.” She said that “specifics of the investigation are not typically shared while the investigation is ongoing.”
“If there are people criminally exploiting the children, the Governor wants to ensure they are held fully accountable to the law, which could include prosecution and deportation if they are here illegally,” Wieman wrote.
Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat who co-sponsored the bill expanding the state’s rules around sharing information with ICE, said she asked Polis’ chief of staff and one of his attorneys about the subpoena last week.
She was told, she said, that Polis’ office “believed” there was an investigation. When Garcia and other lawmakers asked for evidence of such an investigation, they didn’t receive any, she said.
“What I took from that conversation was that they were making an assumption because (ICE) is making a request,” Garcia said.
The question may become central to Polis’ defense against Moss’ lawsuit. On Monday, Moss’ lawyer, Laura Wolf, asked Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones to compel Polis’ office to provide evidence of the criminal investigation that Polis has said he is eager to support.
Jones declined to do so. But if Polis or his office testifies about an investigation without evidence supporting its existence, Jones said, he would exclude that testimony.
Polis is being represented in Moss’ lawsuit by a private attorney, not by the office of Attorney General Phil Weiser. Polis spokesman Maruyama said last week that Weiser’s office had provided unspecified legal advice about the subpoena and was thus conflicted out of representing Polis.
A spokesman for Weiser, who is currently defending the state’s immigration laws against a Trump administration lawsuit, declined to say what legal counsel the AG’s office had provided.
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