Earlier this year, Denver Public Schools tried to blame President Donald Trump for their enrollment crisis — and even made a federal case of it.

They failed. But the district was right about one thing: enrollment is collapsing. They just couldn’t put the blame where they wanted to.

Now, the chickens have come home to roost — just not the ones DPS wanted.

In February, Colorado’s largest school district sued for a nationwide injunction to block a revised Trump immigration enforcement policy, claiming an ICE raid near schools meant campuses were no longer “protected areas.”

Superintendent Alex Marrero warned there was no longer any guarantee “the next raid would not be at the school.” But the new policy merely shifted approvals from D.C. back to local ICE directors, who were once again entrusted to exercise “discretion and common sense.”

The lawsuit alleged ICE’s actions and policy change were suppressing attendance, jeopardizing enrollment-based funding and the district’s “stability.” Yet enrollment and attendance are two different things.

Marrero introduced no real proof of declining attendance. Hard numbers would expose how much DPS has depended on illegal immigration to pad enrollment and protect budgets.

The district’s legal stunt collapsed — and with it, their narrative. U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico determined DPS failed to “overcome my extreme reluctance to consider a nationwide injunction.” In fact, since February, there hasn’t been a single ICE enforcement on a school campus anywhere in the country.

“ICE is not conducting enforcement operations at, or ‘raiding,’ schools. ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated in September. The one caveat would be if a dangerous criminal posed a risk to public safety, she added, but even this sensible exception “has not happened.”

The key difference between the Biden and Trump administrations was never the policy itself but enforcement. Biden stonewalled operations while ostensibly permitting them. Trump is following through — and that’s why DPS wanted to stop enforcement before it began. They were trying to create de facto sanctuary zones through the courts.

They failed. And now, Colorado’s largest school district can no longer hide its enrollment declines behind an influx of illegal immigrant students.

In a presentation before the school board last week, district officials admitted the quiet part out loud: “Loss of new to country students is exacerbating our decline,” their chart states.

“It’s due to a substantial net loss of new to country students, reflecting a sharp reversal of the growth that we’ve enjoyed from new arrivals in the last 2 years,” explained Andrew Huber, the district’s executive director of enrollment and campus planning.

Enjoyed?

Then came the kicker: Huber told the board the loss of undocumented students is “severely compounding our existing declining enrollment problem.”

“Exits of new to country students have remained persistently high while entries of students from other countries are at a uniquely low level,” he continued. “We can’t find a record in our data of the last time DPS has experienced this dynamic.”

Let’s be clear: DPS openly admitted its enrollment “stability” always depended on illegal immigrant students. And the numbers are damning.

In the 2025-2026 school year, a net 742 “new arrivals” have left DPS — continuing a trend. In both previous years, there was a net increase of just under 200, but last year, while 1,693 new entries joined the district, 1,499 left.

DPS masked its general enrollment drop with 4,700 undocumented students. That buffer is gone.

This validates what I argued in February, days after DPS filed its lawsuit — that the district depends on illegal immigration to pad enrollment and bolster district budgets.

That’s why they sued Trump — not to help anyone but to keep the money flowing.

Oh, the irony. The school district that stoked panic about ICE raids that haven’t happened — even taking them to court — is now watching families leave anyway, perhaps in part because of the fear DPS itself helped create.

The influx that once cushioned enrollment losses is now an outflow, even as academic and safety failures continue driving away citizens and legal residents.

Now, the district predicts they’re about to lose another 6,000 students by 2029.

DPS isn’t alone. Statewide enrollment in 2024-2025 hit its lowest point in a decade — 881,065 students — while homeschool enrollment rose 4.7%. Demographic shifts and gentrification play a role, but performance is driving families out the door.

When DPS lost in court, they called their performative lawsuit a “victory” because they supposedly forced the Trump administration’s policy to be revealed. That’s called spin.

The district does a lot of that. It touts an “historic” 79% graduation rate and “accredited (green)” status — even though its score barely squeaks by at 57.6%. (That’s an F, kids.) Four in 10 schools remain stuck with improvement plans or worse. Just 41.9% of K-8 students read and write at grade level, and 32.9% are proficient in math — while Marrero’s own evaluation recently scored 73.5%.

Let’s be real: Students aren’t leaving because of ICE. They’re fleeing failure. The illegal immigration flow that once papered over that exodus has subsided — and DPS must finally reckon with reality. Even if it’s just a little bit.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.