The U.S. Department of Justice listed Colorado and its capital city on its new roster of “sanctuary jurisdictions” this week, two months after a previous — and more expansive — federal list was hastily withdrawn.
Colorado is one of 12 states, plus Washington, D.C., to be included on the list of jurisdictions with “policies, laws, or regulations that impede enforcement of federal immigration laws,” the Justice Department said in a Tuesday announcement. Denver is one of 22 cities and counties across the country to make the list.
No other city or county from Colorado is included this time.
President Donald Trump directed the government to release a list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions in a spring executive order. The Justice Department said its new list would be continually updated and that jurisdictions could be removed if they “remediated their policies, practices, and laws.”
It’s unclear what consequences Colorado and Denver may face for their inclusion. The Justice Department is already suing both the state and city in federal court over laws and ordinances that limit cooperation and information-sharing with federal immigration authorities.
That lawsuit, which was filed in May, was updated last month to note the latest expansion of the state’s immigrant-protection law and to reference a state investigation of a Mesa County sheriff deputy for allegedly violating that statute.
The department has sued other cities for similar reasons. Last month, a federal judge in Illinois dismissed litigation against that state and the city of Chicago.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned that the Justice Department would “continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”
In an email Friday, Denver city spokesman Jon Ewing quipped, “And here we thought the Trump Administration didn’t like lists!”
“Denver protects the rights of all residents while enforcing federal, state, and local law,” he wrote. “Any suggestion otherwise is untrue.”
A spokeswoman for Gov. Jared Polis did not immediately provide comment Friday. Polis has stressed that Colorado is not a sanctuary state, despite its laws adopted to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The earlier, typo-riddled sanctuary jurisdictions list was issued by the Department of Homeland Security. It included dozens of Colorado cities and counties, a number of which had not adopted the type of laws or ordinances passed at the state Capitol or in Denver.
Its release in late May set off a scramble among both local officials and congressional representatives like U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who told The Denver Post that she worked to get several counties struck from the roster.
The list was withdrawn a few days after its release. But not before a lobbyist with Colorado and Trump ties pitched told several counties with an offer that, for a small fee, he could get them removed from the list.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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