A Whistleblower Lawsuit Has Unveiled a Secret Trump ICE Plot
A new whistleblower lawsuit is accusing the Trump administration of using a secret subpoena to force Colorado officials to ignore state laws and hand over the private financial information of residents who are sponsoring unaccompanied immigrant children.
A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in the French Quarter prior to Super Bowl LIX on February 8, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Aaron M. Sprecher / Getty Images)
A new lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of using a secret subpoena to force Colorado officials to ignore state laws and hand over private financial information of residents sponsoring unaccompanied immigrant children. The state’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, is demanding that those state officials comply, allegedly under threat of termination, according to court documents reviewed by the Lever.
The previously undisclosed Trump administration subpoena was detailed in an explosive new whistleblower lawsuit filed in state court on Thursday. The alleged subpoena targeting information protected by state privacy laws represents a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown — and the lawsuit’s allegations also prompt new questions about Democrats’ cooperation.
The suit, spearheaded by one of Polis’s top labor officials, accuses the Democratic governor of actively aiding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and pressuring his employees to violate privacy statutes Polis himself signed into law in 2021 and in May 2025.
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