A Denver District Court judge has denied a request by Gov. Jared Polis to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former state employee over disclosure of information to federal immigration authorities.

The lawsuit filed against the governor by Scott Moss, then the director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, sought to prevent Moss from disclosing data sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Moss claimed, and the judge agreed through a temporary injunction issued in June, that complying with an administrative subpoena for information on 35 individuals who are custodians of unaccompanied minor children who are illegally staying in the U.S. would violate state laws passed in 2021 and 2024.

ICE claimed it wanted that information to ensure the children were not being subjected to human trafficking or other forms of exploitation. The subpoena reportedly did not provide any evidence of those claims.

In response to the dismissal, a spokesperson said Polis is “committed to protecting Coloradans against human trafficking. While he disagrees with the decision, he respects the opinion regarding standing and cannot comment further on pending litigation.”

State laws prohibit state employees and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, except when that information is sought either through a judicial warrant or criminal investigation.

In his Dec. 2 ruling, , Jones also granted standing to one of the parties – Towards Justice – in the lawsuit.

Moss left state employment in August after Jones issued a temporary injunction that blocked him from complying with the subpoena.

Moss is now full-time on the faculty of the University of Colorado law school. He had been a part-time faculty member while working for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE).

Jones noted Moss had already left state employment but said the decision to reject the governor’s motion to dismiss was not based on whether Moss would be rehired by the labor agency.

“To the contrary,” Jones wrote, “it is based on his clinical role at CU Law in working with and arranging representation of immigrant workers, including undocumented individuals.”

Jones said Moss had “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 [personally identifiable information] in response to immigration-enforcement subpoenas.”

Jones said he also would reconsider the standing issue for Towards Justice.

Towards Justice is a plaintiff in the case, along with Colorado WINS, the state employee union, and Colorado AFL-CIO.

Jones wrote that Towards Justice had “adequately alleged that it is similarly situated to Mr. Moss and injured in its ability to represent and/or refer clients to the Department.”

One of the issues noted by Jones’ ruling is that the unaccompanied alien children and their sponsors would not be notified that ICE was seeking information and would be unable to assert their rights.

In the June ruling, Jones cautioned the Polis administration about going forward with complying with the ICE subpoena without first notifying the individuals whose information the federal agency sought.

By denying Towards Justice standing, Jones wrote, the interests of those parties would go unrepresented.

Polis has until Dec. 10 to respond to the court’s ruling.