DENVER — A federal judge on Friday ruled that a Denver Public Schools request to block federal immigration agents from making arrests at schools and other "sensitive" places was not appropriate, handing the Trump administration a victory as it ramps up mass deportations nationwide.
The preliminary injunction filed by DPS against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem alleged the district was “hindered in fulfilling its mission” to the students who are not attending school “for fear of immigration enforcement actions occurring on DPS school grounds,” and claimed the federal policy was diverting resources from the district to prepare its staff in case of immigration arrests on DPS property.
The lawsuit was the first of its kind filed by a U.S. public school.
“While we are disappointed in the judge's ruling, it is important to note that he acknowledged the real damages public schools have suffered. He also acknowledged that there are no fundamental differences between the 2021 and 2025 policy, which had not been known prior to our court filing,” a DPS spokesperson said in a statement shortly after the ruling was issued. “DPS was successful in forcing the government to release the new 2025 guidance that had previously been kept from the public.”
In court Friday, DPS tried to make the case that schools have largely avoided being the epicenter of immigration raids for decades, and that the uncertainty of the Trump administration's new directives on immigration enforcement was hurting the district.
DPS officials argued that a previous 2021 policy — which allowed immigration enforcement agents to make arrests at schools so long as they received approval to do so from higher-ranking officials — provided guardrails the district could use to assuage parents' concerns that routine immigration sweeps wouldn't be happening at schools.
The new policy, DPS argued, was unclear as to when such approvals would take place, leaving the decision "to the whim of a lieutenant that a raid will make sense."
But in a rebuttal issued by DHS last week, attorneys for the federal agency said the newer policy wasn't that much different from the one that was in place before Trump took office a second time.
In their brief, the DHS argued that the agency previously issued general guidance to government officials about immigration enforcement “in or near areas that require special protections” including schools and bus stops, “…the 2021 Guidance did not prohibit enforcement action in nor near schools, and it provided no guarantee to school administrators that enforcement actions would not occur in or near schools" when risk of injury or death was imminent during such raids.
“In other words, even when no exigent circumstances were present, the 2021 Guidance allowed immigration officers, such as ICE officers, to conduct protected-area enforcement actions if they obtained approval from designated officials,” DHS attorneys argued in court.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico, responding to DPS arguments that the previous policy allowed for guardrails, pointed out that DPS had no yet experienced immigration raids at their schools.
DPS countered by saying that while the highly publicized raids that occurred on Feb. 5 across the Denver metro area didn't target DPS schools, they were still "a couple of miles" away from several campuses and prevented school buses from picking up children as drivers were blocked by heavily armed federal agents.
"Is your position that if I had issued this injunction sooner, that raid at (the) Cedar Run (Apartments) wouldn't have happened?" Judge Domenico asked.
DPS officials responded that their argument wasn't over which raids were OK and which weren't. "The harm that DPS has incurred is from the lack of certainty and reasoning from the new policy without any insight into what the agency was thinking. It's not clear whether there's any real protection."
Though the judge acknowledged the precarious situation many immigrant families were going through because of recent changes to immigration enforcement, "just the fact that people are nervous about increased enforcement, doesn't answer the question that I have to answer, which is: How much of the harm you claim was brought onto you happened because of the change in these two policies?"
Claim brought by Denver school district "relies on the product of fear"
Defending their position in court Friday, attorneys for DHS argued that the district could not show how the newer immigration policy under President Trump hurt students across Denver.
"I think the injury relies on the product of fear," said one of the lawyers for the defense. The 2021 policy, the attorney argued, "didn't have language that there was reluctance to do this enforcement but left room for discretion," and added that when it comes to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, the current policy requires "some level of approval on when to conduct an action" and isn't left up to the whims of any particular officer.
In response, DPS said that even though there was no guarantee that immigration arrests couldn't happen at schools prior to 2025, district officials had heard from parents who said potential immigration enforcement under the Trump administration was exactly the reason why they were choosing not to send their children to school.
When pressed by the judge on how DPS relied on the previous memo, a district official could only say that it "gave comfort to community members."
In his ruling Friday, Judge Domenico said that while he was normally reluctant to give a ruling from the bench, it was in everyone's interest to have a decision sooner rather than later. The extraordinary remedy of the request sought by the district was not appropriate in this case, he said, as the claim by DPS did not meet a very high burden to alter the status quo.
"For the most part, the harms caused here are indirect to individuals that would be subject to enforcement action even on DPS property," the judge said.
The judge's ruling might not be the last word on this matter, however.
U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, have introduced legislation in Congress to prevent immigration officials from making arrests at "sensitive areas," such as schools, churches, healthcare facilities and other places where families might congregate out in public. The bill makes exceptions for “exigent circumstances,” such as acts of terrorism or situations where arrests might prevent injury or death.
The legal fight over blocking immigration enforcement at DPS campuses was just one the district was embroiled in with the current administration.
DPS is currently under investigation by the Trump administration after East High School recently installed an all-gender multi-stall restroom.
Denver7's Veronica Acosta contributed to this report.
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