Visa Lawyer Blog: Trump Administration Files lawsuit targeting Sanctuary City Denver over immigration policies — May 8, 2025
President Trump’s first 100 days in office have been marred by controversial actions targeting both legal and illegal immigration.
In its latest move, the Trump administration is going even further by targeting “sanctuary” cities which are state and local jurisdictions that limit their cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement officials. “Sanctuary” cities have been known to enact policies that prohibit the detention of individuals solely based on their immigration status and restrict the sharing of information about immigrants with federal authorities.
To force them into compliance, the Trump administration has begun filing lawsuits against sanctuary cities seeking to penalize them for their disobedience.
The first of these lawsuits targets Colorado and Denver for impeding federal immigration authorities from carrying out deportations. Denver is just one of many states that have laws prohibiting state and local officials from working with federal immigration authorities. For instance, a Denver state law prevents the use of the city’s resources to assist with immigration enforcement, while a separate executive order establishes Denver as a “sanctuary city,” welcoming undocumented immigrants.
If Trump has it his way, the lawsuit would undo Colorado’s sanctuary state laws by declaring them unconstitutional and prohibiting their enforcement.
Interestingly, in responding to the lawsuit, the governor of Colorado Jared Polis denied Colorado’s status as a sanctuary state and said that Colorado regularly cooperates with federal law enforcement authorities.
The Colorado lawsuit comes on the heels of Trump’s new executive order entitled “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens,” promising to suspend or terminate grants for noncompliant sanctuary cities and pursuing all “necessary legal remedies and enforcement” to bring jurisdictions into compliance.
These actions signal the first of what may soon be a series of lawsuits to quash sanctuary policies nationwide. We may see a shift in local and state policies to appease Trump and maintain federal funding. Similar lawsuits have already been filed against Illinois and Chicago, and the city of Rochester, New York.
Trump’s new executive order appears to be emboldening the government to more aggressively pressure sanctuary cities to assist with its mass deportation plans.
Unsurprisingly, just last month federal agents conducted a raid in a Colorado Springs nightclub, which resulted in the detention of more than 100 undocumented immigrants. At least 50 of the city’s police officers aided in the operation and the city mayor a Nigerian immigrant himself, openly supported the immigration enforcement measures.
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