DENVER | The Department of Justice sued Colorado and Denver on Friday for allegedly interfering with federal efforts to enforce immigration laws in Aurora, the latest attempt by the Trump administration to crack down on what some call sanctuary cities and policies.
The lawsuit claims the state and, Denver, have passed “sanctuary laws” violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Denver.
There is no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration laws nationwide but seeks state and local help, particularly for large-scale deportations, and requests that police and sheriffs alert ICE to people it wants to deport and hold them until federal officers take custody.
The Department of Justice has filed similar lawsuits against Chicago and Rochester, New York.
Justice Department attorneys argue Colorado’s “sanctuary policies” allowed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to seize control of The Edge of Lowry apartment complex in Aurora. Police and city officials have repeatedly disputed the characterization.
The apartments were shut down earlier this year by the city, which deemed them uninhabitable because of public health and crime conditions.
Local officials have called Trump’s claims that the gang had taken over large swaths of the city exaggerated, but acknowledged a wide variety of crimes occurred at the apartment complex, including crimes committed by people linked to Tren de Aragua.
The vast majority of issues at that apartment complex, including crime and public health and safety problems, were caused by mismanagement and malfeasance by the landlord, according to court cases filed by the city against owners CBZ Management.
Friday’s lawsuit lists as defendants Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, the state Legislature, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Polis spokesperson Conor Cahill said in an email that Colorado is not a sanctuary state and regularly works with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
“If the courts say that any Colorado law is not valid then we will follow the ruling,” he said. “We are not going to comment on the merits of the lawsuit.”
Republicans in Congress have pressured officials in Democratic-led cities to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. Lawmakers summoned the mayors of Denver, Boston, New York and Chicago to testify last month before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The mayors pushed back, defending their communities as welcoming places, not lawless danger zones, and called on Congress to pass immigration reform.
It was unclear immediately if the lawsuit was linked to unproven allegations that leaks from inside the Trump administration to media or others spoiled an ICE raid in February in Aurora and Denver that appeared to turn up few immigrants for arrest.
On Feb. 7, Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan blamed local news media leaks for hindering a large-scale operation in Aurora that President Trump has held up in his efforts to link violent crime with immigration.
More than 100 members of the Tren de Aragua gang were targeted Feb. 6 at apartment buildings and other sites in Denver and Aurora, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Fox News, which was embedded with the operation, said 30 people were detained, including at least one person accused to be a member of the Venezuelan gang. But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said more than 100 members of Tren de Aragua were deported from Colorado .
She offered no details or evidence.
No local official from the federal agencies released information about the operations. Rocky Mountain DEA spokesperson Steffan Tubbs told the Sentinel that his agency would not release details because Homeland Security led the effort.
Months after the raid, details about Homan’s allegations of a leak, and who was contacted or arrested, are still not made public.
The February operation included the largely empty apartment complex where a notorious viral video was taken in August, depicting men with guns inside the apartment complex. Residents had been moving out for months because all but one of its buildings is set to be closed by the city Feb. 18 after a judge said it was a public safety threat.
In December, police say a group of people that included seven suspected Tren de Aragua members tied up, pistol whipped and terrorized two fellow immigrants from Venezuela at the complex. Nine people, initially put in ICE custody, are being prosecuted on state charges and transferred to the local jail.
Immigration rights activists say that, at least for the Aurora raids, federal officials appeared to be targeting residents potentially in violation of immigration law, not for criminal offenses.
“This action, taking place in Aurora, a focal point of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, is a direct attempt to criminalize immigrant communities,” Colorado Immigration Rights Council officials said in a statement. “
The group and others had been warning immigrants in the region for weeks that such a raid was imminent, and offered legal advice, which included demanding a warrant from federal agents.