DENVER | A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accusing Colorado and Denver of interfering with the enforcement of immigration laws.
The lawsuit claimed the state and its most populous city passed “sanctuary laws” violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. At issue were four state laws and two Denver laws that limit the use of resources for immigration enforcement and protect the rights and personal information of immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 1997 case that the federal government can’t “dragoon” state officers into carrying out federal law. He granted requests from Colorado and Denver officials to dismiss the lawsuit, concluding that “Colorado and Denver have the right to refuse to expend their resources to implement a federal regulatory program.”
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately return an after-hours request for comment.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston welcomed the ruling.
“Today’s ruling makes clear that we cannot be required to use local resources to enforce federal policies,” he said in a statement.
The Department of Justice filed similar lawsuits targeting state or city policies seen as interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City and Minnesota and cities there. A federal judge dismissed a case challenging Chicago’s laws last year.
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 it about people it wants to deport and hold them until federal officers take custody.
There is a difference between conscripting Denver police to assist in ICE enforcement and actively interferring with Federal agents attempting to enforce Federal law. When a mayor of a major American city threatens to stage city police on the state border to confront and apparently engage Federal officers coming to enforce immigration laws, this is closer to active insurrection than forced assistance. This judge is apparently another left-wing judge who’s ruling will hopefully be overturned on appeal, as so many others have.
Well, it seems to me that we know we have a societal problem when any police force or those selected to enforce any laws of the land have to have judgements against other forces to maintain our “safety”. Police forces “should” cooperate with one another for the betterment of all society.
Food for thought, if we have thousands or millions of people in our country, illegally, shouldn’t we have methods to get them out of our country? Why is it that any USA government entity would fight this concept?
Wow, just imagine all of the resources expended to pick up the phone or email ICE that you have someone in custody that is going to be released. I challenge the readers to honestly examine the numbers criminals and crimes committed by them that these ridiculous laws are protecting so that the criminals can return to our neighborhoods to make them unsafe. This is what I dislike the most about radical dem policies. They will push and protect their agenda regardless of the cost to ordinary citizens. To them the agenda is more important than all Americans. Nonsense… never stop asking why
Immigrants have much lower rates of criminal activity than natural-born citizens. This has been a matter of record for longer than…, well, longer than the amount of time you gave to coming up with this bit of noxious thinking.
Can you imagine the incredible cost to state and local law enforcement to pick up the phone or email ICE that they have someone in custody or are about to release them? Seriously?? I challenge readers to examine the criminals and actual crimes they committed that radicalized dem policies are protecting. Something is seriously wrong with a policy or law that protects the political agenda over the safety of our citizens. Never stop asking why…
It’s our dirty little secret that “illegals” commit far fewer crimes, per capita, than “Right-thinking Americans” who were born here.