DENVER (AP) — A federal judge will hear debate Friday about whether immigration agents should be prevented from making arrests at schools under a Trump administration policy that has not yet been acted on.
Denver Public Schools is asking District Judge Daniel Domenico to block immigration enforcement at schools across the country. Litigation challenges new policies Play in court.
The lawsuit says the possibility of routine immigrant arrests at schools led to a decline in attendance. The district also says it had to bypass resources to deal with fear among students and families regarding the lifting of long-standing rules restricting immigration enforcement. Near schools, churches and other sensitive areas.
“This includes providing mental health support to students, diverting administrator attention from academics to immigration issues, and helping students who miss schools catch up,” the district’s lawyer said in a request to block new policies.
Under the previous “sensitivity location” guidance, officers were generally required to obtain approval for executive operations at these locations, with exceptions allowed for issues such as national security. The policy changes announced in January by the Department of Homeland Security’s representative leader, which is the Department of Homeland Security’s representative leader, including immigration and customs enforcement, stressing that field agents must use “common sense” and “discretion” to implement immigration enforcement projects without supervisor approval.
The ICE director later issued an order that immigrant arrests in sensitive areas such as schools must be approved by supervisors, a lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security’s Kristi Noem office said in a court filing.
Such arrests were rare. According to ICE data cited by a Denver school lawyer, there were only two immigrant arrests made at schools between 2018 and 2020, with 18 arrests made near the school.
There were no school arrests under last week’s new policies, according to a filing filed by the Metropolitan Council in support of the Denver case.
The federal government says Denver schools have not proven directly harmed by policy changes and do not have legal status to pursue litigation.
Last month, a federal judge in Maryland Blocked immigration agents From the implementation of enforcement activities at places of worship Quaker And a few other religious groups after they filed a lawsuit challenging the order. This order does not apply to religious groups beyond those who filed the lawsuit.
It’s not clear how quickly Domenico, Trump’s appointee and former Colorado attorney general, will take control.
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