Denver Enters Court Fight Over Federal Immigration Enforcement

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette

The City of Denver has joined dozens of U.S. cities and counties in filing an amicus brief backing Minnesota’s legal action seeking to end “Operation Metro Surge” and the deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota.

The brief supports Minnesota v. Noem, filed by the State of Minnesota in federal court on Jan. 12, which argues the increased presence of ICE and other federal agencies in the Twin Cities area is not based on an “urgent need for enhanced and aggressive immigration enforcement,” but rather “to cause chaos” and as punishment for state and local policy, a violation of the 10th Amendment.

An amicus brief — or friend of the court brief — is a legal document that allows a party not named in the case to provide an outside perspective on an issue under litigation. 

“ICE’s occupation of American cities must end now,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said in a statement on Wednesday. “President Trump unleashed this reckless and lethal ICE invasion, and now parents are so afraid of being abducted they’re scared to take their kids to the hospital or leave the house without their passports or birth certificates.” 

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