DENVER — The Trump administration responded Monday to a Denver Public Schools lawsuit that seeks to block federal immigration enforcement agents from making arrests at schools, saying the district has no legal standing to prevent them from enforcing its new policy directives.
Earlier this month, the district filed an emergency temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, alleging that Denver Public Schools (DPS) 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.”
The lawsuit – the first of its kind filed by a public school – also claimed the policy change by the Trump administration to allow immigration-related arrests in protected areas, such as schools, was diverting resources from its educational mission so it could prepare its staff in case of immigration arrests.
But in a rebuttal filed Friday in U.S. District Court of Colorado, DHS laid out several arguments for why they believe the claims by DPS have no legal standing.
One of the arguments they presented in the legal filing was DPS officials’ “incorrect” understanding of internal guidance by the department to its immigration officers under the previous and current administrations.
DHS argued that while 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."
“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,” the response from the DHS states.
- Read the full rebuttal from the DHS here or in the document below.
In their temporary restraining order (TRO), DPS officials also claimed that rescinding the 2021 guidance had caused a recent decline in student attendance at DPS, as students and their families feared potential ICE arrests on campuses across the district.
But questioning the legal standing of that claim, DHS said that “the evidence [DPS] submits does not clearly show the extent of this decline or whether it was in response to the 2025 Guidance,” and added that the district did not provide “evidence quantifying how much lower the attendance was after the 2025 Guidance was adopted.”
Further, DHS argued that DPS does not have any legal standing to seek this temporary relief, as the district cannot show that immigration arrests at Denver schools “would directly affect and interfere with its core functions.”
“Under this standard, DPS has not shown that DHS, through its 2025 Guidance, has directly interfered with DPS and caused it a cognizable injury,” the rebuttal reads, adding as an example that DPS “has not pointed to any immigration activities at DPS schools, on school grounds, or at bus stops.”
Additionally, DHS also argued that the district cannot show that it will be subject to injury that is “concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent.”
“…Despite the generalized concerns DPS and its students may have about immigration enforcement, DPS, as an organization, has not shown a sufficiently direct and cognizable injury to itself from the 2025 Guidance,” the rebuttal from the DHS states.
Ultimately, the DHS argued, the district “has not shown that its injury is caused by and traceable to the 2025 Guidance…” and “that the order it seeks would in fact remedy its attendance and diverted-resources concerns.”
“It is speculative to assume that the subjective concerns of students about future immigration enforcement would be assuaged by a court order enjoining actions under the 2025 Guidance and requiring DHS to operate under the 2021 Guidance, which would still permit DHS enforcement action at schools,” the agency wrote in its rebuttal to the district’s TRO.
Denver Public Schools has until Friday to file a response to the DHS rebuttal if it chooses to do so. A judge will then take all those arguments into consideration before issuing a ruling on the matter.
- Denver7 spoke with DPS Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero about the lawsuit the district filed against DPS. You can watch the full interview in the video player below.
The legal fight between the district and the DHS comes after President Donald Trump rescinded policies put in place in 2021 that prevented ICE and Customs Border Protection (CBP) agents from making arrests at sensitive locations such as schools, churches, and hospitals unless approved by a designated official.
In its filing Friday, DHS reiterated this point and added that a directive from the agency issued on Jan. 20 states that officers "frequently apply enforcement discretion to balance a variety of interests, including the degree to which any law enforcement action occurs in a sensitive location” while calling for use of that discretion “along with a healthy dose of common sense.”
In response, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, have introduced legislation in Congress to restore protected 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 isn’t the only fight the district is embroiled in with the current administration.
DPS is also under investigation by the Trump administration after East High School recently installed an all-gender multi-stall restroom.
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