The Denver Post, in a report by Seth Klamann, says a Denver judge has again blocked Gov. Jared Polis from directing certain state labor officials to comply with an ICE subpoena seeking records about sponsors of immigrant children. The ruling marks the second time in 10 months that Denver District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones has stopped Polis from moving ahead with substantially the same kind of information-sharing request.
Klamann explains that the judge found the new subpoena sent in March looked too much like the earlier one Polis had already tried to honor last spring. In both instances, the request sought employment and personal information tied to sponsors of children without permanent legal status. The judge concluded that complying would likely violate Colorado law restricting information-sharing with federal immigration officials.
The article also captures the absurdity of the state’s position. Polis’ lawyers argued that this latest subpoena should be treated differently because ICE now says the records are needed for a specific criminal investigation. Judge Jones was not buying the magic words routine. As the article recounts, he said it was a fair inference that someone saw the earlier ruling and realized all they had to do was invoke the talismanic phrase “criminal investigation” and suddenly cooperation would go boom.
The Bullet Point Brief
- A Denver judge blocked Polis again from ordering certain labor officials to hand records to ICE. Same governor, same basic stunt, same legal wall.
- The judge said the new subpoena was substantially the same as the one Polis already fought to fulfill last year. So this was less “new development” and more “try the same thing with different wrapping.”
- Polis’ team argued they trusted ICE’s claim that the information was now being sought for a criminal probe. Judge Jones responded, in essence, that he did not wake up in a new world today. Fair point.
- The ruling was limited, not sweeping. It bars Polis from ordering officials in a specific labor division to comply, but does not broadly preclude every possible future subpoena response. Even so, it is another public legal smack on the governor’s knuckles.
- The article also notes a new subpoena had already arrived before Polis’ lawyers dismissed concerns that another similar request was imminent. Somehow the era of Governor Gaslight continues to find fresh material.
My Bottom Line
I keep thinking that if I close my eyes and count to three, the era of Governor Gaslight will be over. But no. We still have months of this guy, and the routine is getting old enough to qualify for state benefits.
Here is the clown show in plain English. Polis signs legislation that prohibits state employees from cooperating with ICE in certain ways. Then he turns around and wants state employees to cooperate with ICE. Then a judge tells him he needs to follow the very law he signed. Then the judge has to tell him again. At some point this stops being complicated legal interpretation and starts looking like exactly what it is: a governor trying to slither around the consequences of his own political theater.
That is the real insult here. Jared Polis wants the applause line from the activist left for signing sanctuary-style restrictions, but he also wants the flexibility to wink at federal enforcement when it suits him. He wants to inhabit both worlds at once, which is classic Jared. Principle for the cameras, improvisation when the law gets inconvenient, and a press office always standing by to explain why the contradiction is not actually a contradiction if you squint hard enough from Boulder.
And that is why this feels so familiar. Laws do not seem to matter much inside the elitist Denver-Boulder Democrat bubble when those laws begin interfering with the approved narrative. The rest of us are expected to live under statutes, rules, and consequences. Jared apparently prefers vibes, discretion, and second chances from the court. Somebody please make this stop.
Source: The Denver Post
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