The Denver school board discussed a major policy amendment that, if passed, will designate all district properties as “Safe Zones” and “Sensitive Locations.”

In practical terms, the proposed policy amendment would restrict federal immigration agents from interacting with students and staff at school without a judicial warrant.

District policy already bans U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on campus, a policy Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero reiterated in the hours after President Donald Trump was sworn in last year, as his administration prepared for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

The proposal would specifically forbid allowing ICE access to school property without a judge’s signature, cooperating with detainer requests, and collecting and sharing student information with federal officials. It would also prohibit School Resource Officers, or SROs, from sharing information with federal agents, as well as issuing citations or making arrests that could put a student at risk of deportation.

Additionally, the proposed amendment would require any agencies working with DPS — including the Denver Police Department — to abide by it.

And it would require the district to provide resources and support to employees with “DACA status” if the federal program is rescinded.

Colloquially known as “DACA,” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is an immigration policy that permits some individuals who were in the United States on June 15, 2012, and had no lawful immigration status to receive deferred deportation and a work permit.  

Trump has repeatedly promised to end DACA.  

More than a dozen speakers weighed in on the policy Thursday.

Several parents mentioned the threat of deportation has negatively impacted attendance and expressed concerns on how this could impact enrollment.

“We cannot keep closing schools,” said Gladis Ibarra. “Do something about it like you said you would.”

Most of Thursday’s speakers approved amendments that would protect students and staff from aggressive immigration enforcement.

Ken Murphy was the lone dissenting voice.

“You want to protect those who have broken the law,” Murphy said.

A vote is not expected to take place until the next meeting in two weeks.

‘That would be a challenge for us’

Board President Xóchitl Gaytán said that a coalition of immigrant rights groups had proposed suggested amendments as well. One of the groups, said Bill Good, a district spokesperson, is Movimiento Poder, a grassroots organization that works to build collective power for their communities.

Having reviewed the proposed amendment, General Counsel Aaron Thompson outlined some of the hurdles the district could face.

Take bus stops.

Thompson reminded board members that U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Domenico — who dismissed the district’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last year — challenged school officials insistence that bus stops be included in a protected area, that “the entire city would be covered.”

“I think that would be a challenge for us,” Thompson said.

The item was on last month’s agenda; however, board members spent very little time discussing the language, aside from asking whether the legal department had had an opportunity to review the proposed policy.

The proposed amendment comes as city officials have explored a policy that would prohibit law-enforcement officers from wearing face coverings during city operations, with limited exceptions.  

Primarily aimed at federal agents, the push emerged after national reports of masked immigration officers, with critics raising concerns about accountability.  

Denver leaders say the goal is transparency and public safety, not blocking federal enforcement outright. A federal court last month struck down a similar ban in California that treated local law enforcement differently.    

These local policies come as the public braces for an ICE surge in Denver.   Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has squared off against the Trump administration as federal officials push for broader immigration enforcement. Trump has repeatedly criticized the city’s “sanctuary” policies.  

A sanctuary city, broadly speaking, refers to local policies that limit or prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Both the Colorado government and the city of Denver have adopted laws barring such cooperation, though political leaders insist neither state nor the municipality is a “sanctuary” jurisdiction.  

More than 600 miles from the U.S.–Mexico border, Denver became an unlikely hub in the nation’s migrant crisis three years ago when churches in El Paso, Texas, and Colorado began coordinating buses of asylum seekers to relieve overcrowded shelters at the border. Denver’s willingness to provide hotel rooms and other humanitarian aid quickly made the city a destination — thrusting Johnston into the national spotlight and into Trump’s crosshairs.