Groups to join lawsuit against Polis over alleged ICE cooperation
DENVER (KDVR) — A lawsuit was filed against Governor Jared Polis after a state official said the governor ordered him to comply with a subpoena from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Monday, more groups announced they are joining the litigation and called out the governor in the process. The new groups include lawmakers, labor groups and immigration advocates, all calling out Polis for what they say is a violation of a law he just signed two weeks ago.
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'Little did I know, y'all, Governor Polis would apparently ignore his own advisors, his agency directors and the very language he himself signed into law to bend the knee to a bunch of ICE goons who were too lazy to go and talk to a judge,' said Julie Gonzalez at the rally held Monday at the state capital. Gonzalez is a prime sponsor of two bills, SB21-131 and SB25-276. Supporters of the lawsuit are questioning whether the governor violated those bills.
Bill sponsors along with other lawmakers, including some chamber leaders, are standing with unions representing state workers calling out the governor: supporting a lawsuit that alleges he instructed the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics Director of the State's Department of Labor and Employment to share what's known as PII or personal identifying information with ICE.
Colorado Wins, Towards Justice and Colorado's AFL-CIO announced Monday they will be joining the lawsuit along with Scott Moss, the state department director who came forward with the allegation. Groups worry Homeland Security's request for information from the Department of Labor could have other intentions.
'If they are familiar with the undocumented community, they might be working in a location that has other undocumented workers. And so their work history which was part of the information that was requested, their workplace history could lead to targets of those workplaces,' said Diane Byrne, president of Colorado Wins.
ICE said they were requesting the information for an investigation involving unaccompanied children in an effort to make sure the children were being properly cared for. But supporters of the lawsuit say nothing on the subpoena indicates this investigation is criminal rather than civil.
'There is nothing on the face of the subpoena that suggested that this is related to a criminal investigation. It cites the civil code, it has not been through any sort of judicial process. It was not issued by a court and not approved by a court. There is nothing here to suggest that this is related to a criminal investigation and it's unclear to us why the governor would be bending over backwards to try to find a justification that isn't there,' said David Seligman, Executive Director of Towards Justice.
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In a statement from the Governor's Office, a spokesperson told FOX31:
'The decision to respond to this federal subpoena due to concerns about potential crimes against vulnerable minors was carefully considered in accordance with Colorado law, which allows for sharing information to support timely criminal investigations. Keeping kids safe is a top priority, child exploitation is a deeply concerning issue, and has no place in our state. Complying with this federal subpoena meets the requirements laid out in state law and providing this information is in service of investigating and preventing any criminal activity, which Governor Polis is deeply committed to.'
Spokesperson for Governor Jared Polis
The CDLE whistleblower who filed the lawsuit, Scott Moss, was also in attendance Monday but did not want to speak on the matter at this time.
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