Denver Public Schools is taking the Trump administration to court in an effort to keep immigration enforcement away from schools locally and across the country.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday February 12 in U.S. District Court against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Denver Public Schools asked the court to void a Trump administration policy that clears the way for immigration enforcement to take place at “sensitive locations.”
The Denver school district’s move comes as immigration enforcement intensifies across the country, including high-profile raids last week of apartment complexes in Denver and Aurora.
“DPS is hindered in fulfilling its mission of providing education and life services to the students who are refraining from attending DPS schools for fear of immigration enforcement actions occurring on DPS school grounds,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit argues that the school district has been “forced to divert resources from its educational mission to prepare for immigration arrests on DPS school grounds.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
In an interview, Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero described terrified students and parents who see their schools as safe places — and anguished teachers who worry that the Trump administration’s actions could mean that’s no longer true.
“We can’t continue to function with this fear,” Marrero said. He said that immigration enforcement is going to happen, but “the fact that some folks feel that it’s going to happen in our schools is just going to really cripple the way we function.”
Denver is believed to be the first school district in the country to mount a legal challenge against the Trump administration’s abolishment of a decades-old federal policy that treated schools, child care centers, churches, and hospitals as sensitive or protected locations where immigration enforcement should only take place if there is immediate danger to the public.
An outside law firm is representing the district at no cost, district leaders said.
Denver Public Schools also filed a motion Wednesday seeking a temporary restraining order that would reinstate the sensitive locations policy.
“It is in the public interest for schools not to become hunting grounds for suspected undocumented immigrants,” that motion says.
District leaders acknowledged the legal filings could cause the federal government to target or retaliate against Denver Public Schools, which is already the subject of a federal civil rights probe of an all-gender school restroom. But they said it’s a risk worth taking.
“Scared children can’t learn,” Denver school board President Carrie Olson said.
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