The effort by Gov. Jared Polis to comply with an administrative subpoena from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for information held by several state agencies is over.

Polis, in a motion filed Feb. 20, asked for a permanent injunction and final judgment that would bar the governor or any other state employees from producing records in response to an April 24, 2025 immigration enforcement subpoena.

That administrative subpoena demanded that the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment produce personal information on 35 adults aged 20 to 45, including home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and other information.

The subpoena claimed it needed that information to determine if “unaccompanied alien children” in the custody of those individuals to decide whether they were safe and not being used for human trafficking or other forms of exploitation.

Scott Moss, then director of the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, held several conversations with his boss, Joe Barela, the department’s executive director, and refused to comply with the subpoena, citing a rule and legislation passed by the Colorado General Assembly and signed into law in 2021 and 2025, respectively, by the governor.

Moss sued Polis to block compliance with the federal subpoena.

In the motion filed last week, Polis, through his outside counsel, wrote that there has been no further action from the federal government since the April 24, 2025, subpoena.

“There no longer appears to be an exigent need for the records that (Homeland Security) previously requested, or at least, (the agency) no longer appears to require the records sought by the original subpoena,” the motion stated.

As a result, Polis determined the state would not produce the records sought in the subpoena.

The injunction is sought because, although the governor is no longer willing to comply with the subpoena, that may not be enough to stop ICE from continuing to pursue the matter, the motion said.

A court order that is binding and enforceable should resolve the matter, the motion said.

“We are asking the court to end this matter so we can move on. The State will continue to follow the law and work with federal law enforcement in accordance with state and federal law to investigate and tackle crime,” the governor’s office said in a statement this week. “While we believe responding to the subpoena was allowed in this instance, given the timeline and lack of additional information from the federal agency, it is time to move forward.”

Moss is now an attorney in private practice.