The Denver (Colorado) district has sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to void a Trump administration policy that clears the way for immigration enforcement to take place at “sensitive locations.”
Chalkbeat Colorado reports that the Denver Public Schools (DPS) lawsuit comes as immigration enforcement intensifies across the country.
The lawsuit says the school district has been “forced to divert resources from its educational mission to prepare for immigration arrests on DPS school grounds.”
“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 Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
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.
Denver Public Schools serves about 90,000 students, about 52% of whom are Latino.
The lawsuit argues that rescinding the sensitive locations policy has caused a “wide variety of costs and harms” to Denver Public Schools staff, students, and families, including “by chilling school attendance.” It says “attendance has decreased noticeably,” particularly in schools that serve new immigrant students and schools in areas where immigration raids have occurred.
