Left: Jared Polis in an interview with “Next 9News” in January 2025 (KUSA/YouTube). Right: Law officials spread out through an apartment complex during a raid, Feb. 5, 2025, in east Denver (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File).
An attempt by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to scrap an ICE cooperation lawsuit that he”s facing, which has led to a Denver judge temporarily blocking the governor from sending information about sponsors of undocumented and unaccompanied immigrant children to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was shot down last week. Lawyers for the whistleblower suing Polis say the governor has spent “well over $100,000 in taxpayer money trying to make this case go away” so he can keep collaborating with ICE “behind closed doors.”
District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones rejected a motion from Polis to dismiss the lawsuit — filed in June by former state labor department employee and current Colorado law professor Scott Moss — on Nov. 26, affirming that Moss had standing to sue the governor and ordering Polis to respond to his lawsuit by Dec. 10.
Polis’ lawyers asked Jones to dismiss the case, in part, because he no longer works for the labor department.
“The court’s conclusion … is based on [Moss’] clinical role at CU Law in working with and arranging representation of immigrant workers, including undocumented individuals,” Jones said in a written order on Dec. 2, which was obtained by Law&Crime on Wednesday and sides with another plaintiff, the nonprofit law firm Towards Justice, after Polis’ lawyers claimed the firm lacked standing.
“[Moss] has adequately alleged injury to his ability to engage in those activities if he cannot refer clients to the Department because of concerns about disclosure of their PII [personally identifiable information] in response to immigration-enforcement subpoenas,” Jones said. “The alleged injuries to Mr. Moss and Towards Justice are ‘sufficient to guarantee concrete adverseness,’ as required for third-party standing. The persons who are the focus of the subpoena at issue here will not be notified and thus will be unable to assert their rights. Absent third-party standing, their interests will go unrepresented.”
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Moss, who served as the director of the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics for Polis and his administration until his departure in August, filed a civil complaint in Denver on June 4, alleging a range of “professional and personal harms” — including forced “illegal acts” — that are violations under legislation signed by Polis himself.
Moss’ lawyer, Laura Wolf, told Law&Crime on Wednesday that they were “encouraged” by Jones’ ruling. She has accused Polis of “trying to serve ICE” by attempting to dismiss the case.
“We will continue to fight for the rights of every person placed at risk by Governor Polis’ efforts to facilitate immigration enforcement in violation of Colorado law,” Wolf said.
Moss’ lawyers accuse Polis, a Democrat, of issuing “an illegal directive” to collaborate with ICE and give up financial information of residents sponsoring immigrant children. An “immigration enforcement subpoena” was issued behind closed doors, according to Moss, that Polis allegedly signed.
On July 9, Jones issued a written order directing the Colorado governor to cease requiring Division of Labor Standards & Statistics staff to send ICE information on individuals involved in labor investigations. The emergency relief barred disclosure while the case is being heard. Polis and his lawyers tried to dismiss the case after the ruling, to no avail.
Colorado law prohibits state agencies from providing personal information to federal immigration officials unless related to criminal investigations. Polis’ legal team claims the subpoena in question is related to a “human trafficking” investigation being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security.
“The subpoena requested the production of a range of information, including personally identifying information relating to 35 ‘sponsors’ of unaccompanied alien children,” Jones noted in his July order.
“Despite assurances that he did not have to actively participate in the disclosure of PII pursuant to the subpoena, there was persuasive testimony that Mr. Moss was responsible for the actions of his Division staff, several of whom also expressed concerns that complying with the subpoena would violate the statute,” the judge said. “Further, there was also credible testimony that Mr. Moss would inevitably suffer reputational damage within the community he serves if he complied with the Governor’s directive, and alternatively would be harmed professionally if he refused an order from the Governor. This situation, where each choice available to Mr. Moss reasonably appeared to result in some form of harm.”
Jones concluded that the subpoena does not meet the criminal investigation exception for disclosure of PII, making it “more likely than not” that they were being directed to violate the statute.
Moss claims he was initially instructed by higher-ups that the Polis administration was “analyzing its rights and options” before a decision could be made on how to respond to the ICE subpoena. “In internal discussions within state government, Moss reported that it would be illegal to produce the PII [personally identifiable information] requested by the ICE subpoena,” his complaint says.
Moss was allegedly told in early May that the Polis administration had decided not to produce the private information requested by the subpoena. “Only weeks later, in the last week of May — and just before the May 26 production date ICE requested — Governor Polis personally decided, and state officials including Moss were notified, that Polis wanted CDLE [Colorado Department of Labor and Employment] to produce the PII requested by the ICE subpoena,” his complaint charges.
Moss alleges that the Polis administration is flouting a 2021 law signed into effect by Polis that bars state agencies from sharing nonpublic personal information with federal immigration officials unless a court orders them to do so. He also accuses government officials of forcing him and others to violate a 2025 law that Polis just signed on May 23, which alters and extends the 2021 law to expand sharing restrictions. The Polis directive “harms an unknown but potentially large number of state employees, by directing them to commit illegal acts, risking a wide range of professional and personal harms, including personal penalties of up to $50,000 per violation under the legislation Governor Polis himself signed into law,” per Moss’ complaint.
The Polis administration did not respond to Law&Crime’s request for comment on Wednesday.
