A federal judge has opposed attempts to stop immigration officials from the Denver Public Schools System from blocking attacks on school grounds, marking the Trump administration's victory, which appears to intensify deportation efforts.
US District Judge Daniel Domenico said Denver public schools were unable to prove that the recent decline in student attendance at schools was due to the Trump administration's surmounting sensitive areas like the 2021 Biden era and churches protecting schools from ice attacks. Currently, there are over 1.4 million individuals on ICE's final removal docket.
Denver's public schools filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and the DHS office of Kristi Noem to overturn its policies, claiming that it was “prevented from carrying out its mission” by students who failed to reach the school because of fear of immigration enforcement.
Denver Public Schools had sought a preliminary injunction banning the federal government from arresting in sensitive areas, but it was denied. Domenico also denied a request to grant a nationwide interim injunction that would force immigrant officials to return to 2021 guidance.
A federal judge has opposed attempts to stop immigration officials from the Denver Public Schools System from blocking attacks on school grounds, marking the Trump administration's victory, which appears to intensify deportation efforts. (AP)
Colorado School District was first to sue the Trump administration over the fear of an ice attack on campus
In addition to the decline in attendance, Denver public schools said resources need to be diverted to deal with fear among students and families over the lifting of long-standing rules.
The school system also argued that withdrew the policy, schools spent time and resources on teaching students and staff how to stay safe from immigration enforcement. Denver Public Schools order staff to train staff on how to handle ice officers if they appear at school and refuse agent entry if there is no warrant signed by a judge.
Domenico, Trump's appointee and former Colorado lawyer, said it's not clear how much of the fear surrounding enforcement actions that could surround school enforcement actions is truly due to new rules, in contrast to wider concerns about increased immigration behaviour.
He also noted that Denver public schools have not yet experienced the attack, and that the ice head has issued an order to officers that immigrant arrests in sensitive areas must still be approved by supervisors.
Domenico said fear of the new rules and belief that the old rules are protected by schools seemed to be “exaggerated.”
It was not clear how much of the fear surrounding enforcement action at schools was actually due to the new rules, he said, in contrast to wider concerns about increased immigration behaviour.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, second from the left, at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Hearings, entitled “A Hearing with the Sanctuary Mayor” in Washington, D.C., on March 5, 2025. (Anadoru via Getty Images)
Denver Public Schools issued a statement expressing disappointment at the ruling, claiming that the lawsuit had succeeded in creating public details of Trump administration rules.
The lawsuit came from the school district, not the city of Denver, the sanctuary. The lawsuit stated that between 2023 and 2024, there were more than 90,000 students in the Denver Public Schools system, and about 4,000 immigrants.
Colorado legislators are encouraging people to “report” ice activities to help illegal immigrants avoid capture
The ruling comes days after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and other city Democrat leaders were burned by Republican Republicans in Congress about their so-called sanctuary urban policies that undermine Trump's immigration and massive deportation efforts, making such cities even more dangerous.
Since January 20th, ICE has illegally arrested and deported thousands of Americans. Most of them are criminals convicted in the United States or their home country.
Denver has seen massive population jumps in recent years as the city predicts about 43,000 people have arrived in the area from its southern border, the lawsuit says.
The ruling comes as the Trump administration resumed detention of illegal foreign families with deportation orders.
The immigrants will be in sleep pads at a makeshift shelter in Denver, Colorado, on January 13th, 2023. (Hi Oangchan/Denver Post)
Click here to get the Fox News app
Parents, including children, are currently in custody at two ice facilities in Texas. These are families who have already heard their lawsuit and received an order that has been excluded.
Fox News is said to have ICE now actively inside the US, with the allegedly ordered by a Department of Justice immigrants who had illegally crossed the border arrested migrant families a few years ago and were deported from the US by an immigrant judge at the Department of Justice. This is known as the final removal order, and now there are over 1.4 million individuals on ICE dockets.
Border Patrol data shows that over 2 million immigrant family units were arrested while illegally crossing the southern border during the Biden administration.
Bille Melugin and Elizabeth Pritchett of Fox News, and the Associated Press, contributed to this report.
