The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado, the city of Denver and a list of local leaders. The suit claims state and city laws labeled as "sanctuary" policies are dangerous and hurting the Trump Administration-led efforts to deport people who are here illegally.
Donald Trump onstage in October 2024 during a presidential campaign rally at Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora.
RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images
The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Denver and states "The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters." It specifically mentions the controversial apartment complex in Aurora which President Trump claimed last year had been taken over by a Venezuelan gang. Justice Department attorneys argue Colorado's policies allowed Tren de Aragua to seize control of the building.
Local officials have called Trump's claims that the gang had taken over large swaths of the city exaggerated, but acknowledged the apartment complex was terrorized, including by people linked to Tren de Aragua.
The lawsuit calls out city ordinances and state laws like the one blocking local law enforcement agencies from helping federal immigration authorities. It claims Denver and Colorado's policies "by intent and design interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government's enforcement of federal immigration law," as stated in the lawsuit's complaint.
The suit asks the court to rule those laws are illegal and a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
It lists the following people as plaintiffs:
- Gov. Jared Polis
- Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser
- Denver Mayor Mike Johnston
- Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins
A spokesperson for the governor's office reponded to the lawsuit saying they "will not comment on the merits of the lawsuit" but declared that Colorado is not a "sanctuary state."
"The State of Colorado works with local, state and federal law enforcement regularly and we value our partnerships with local, county and federal law enforcement agencies to make Colorado safer. If the courts say that any Colorado law is not valid then we will follow the ruling," the spokesperson said.
A Denver mayor's office spokeperson released a comment as well, saying the city "will not be bullied or blackmailed, least of all by an administration that has little regard for the law and even less for the truth." It went on to say that "Denver follows all laws local, state, and federal and stands ready to defend its values."
In March Johnston traveled to Washington DC to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about the city's policies regarding undocumented immigrants. Republican representatives grilled Johnston and mayors of Boston, Chicago and New York and said the cities' policies of not handing over such people who are picked up for crimes are putting police at risk and the general public as well.
A spokesperson for the Colorado Attorney General's Office released a statement saying their office "is committed to defending Colorado law and has done so successfully in the past in this area. We stand ready to do so again."
In February, several local governments across the U.S. filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its crackdown on cities with sanctuary city policies. The president signed an executive order earlier this week calling on the Justice Department to investigate sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with the Trump administration's immigration policies in an effort to withhold federal funding from them.
There is no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration laws nationwide but seeks state and local help, particularly for large-scale deportations, and requests that police and sheriffs alert ICE to people it wants to deport and hold them until federal officers take custody.
The Department of Justice has filed similar lawsuits against Chicago and Rochester, New York.
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Jesse Sarles