By Marshall Zelinger | Denver Gazette
The case highlights tensions between state privacy protections for immigrants and federal immigration enforcement efforts
DENVER — A state employee has sued Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), alleging that the governor has ordered state employees to illegally share personal information about sponsors of undocumented minors with federal immigration agents in violation of laws Polis, himself, has signed.
Scott Moss, the Director of the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics in Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment, filed the lawsuit in Denver District Court on Wednesday, seeking to block Polis from requiring disclosure of personal identifying information (PII) to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in response to an administrative subpoena, not one signed by a judge or issued by a court.
The lawsuit stems from an April 24 ICE subpoena seeking information on 35 sponsors of unaccompanied immigrant minors. Those are children who are under the age of 18, in the U.S. without lawful status and without a parent or guardian. They are released to a sponsor, often a family member, until their immigration proceeding. The lawsuit alleges that the ICE subpoena seeks PII for the sponsors of those children, including wage, employment and contact records.