Denver Sues Federal Government to Keep ICE Off Polling Places

A federal law from the Civil War era. It has banned armed authorities from polling places for 150 years. On Sept. 1, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin confirmed a policy that effectively ignores it.

The Colorado Sun reported Thursday that the city of Denver, alongside Latino advocacy and voting rights groups including the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Common Cause, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C. The goal is straightforward: keep armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers away from voting locations during the November election.

On paper, this seems like a non-issue for most folks around here. Colorado is not Texas or New York. The lawsuit cites news reports of ICE operations at polling places in San Antonio, Ventura County, and Syracuse back in May and June. It does not cite a single instance of this happening in Denver or anywhere else in Colorado. For context, the vast majority of voters here cast their ballots by mail. You don’t need a drop box on 16th Street if you have a mailbox and a stamp.

In practice, Denver officials are worried about the physical infrastructure of voting anyway. The lawsuit argues that armed agents could show up at early voting centers, on Election Day, or at ballot drop-off boxes. The legal argument is that their presence would violate the post-Civil War statute and intimidate voters, impairing the Clerk’s ability to collect ballots as required by state law.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston didn’t mince words about the intent behind the policy. “Stationing ICE agents near polling places is only meant to scare people and suppress votes. We’ll fight tooth and nail to prevent it,” Johnston said in a press release issued by the groups behind the suit. Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez also voiced support for the legal action.

The Department of Homeland Security pushed back with a narrower definition. A spokesperson stated that DHS was not planning operations specifically targeting polling locations. However, the department said there may be arrests at those sites if it determines there is an “active public safety threat” that endangers the location. That distinction matters. It means the trigger isn’t just immigration status; it’s a subjective assessment of safety that could be applied at any drop box or voting center.

Let’s do the math on why this matters locally, even if it hasn’t happened here yet. When you mail a ballot, the journey isn’t over until the Clerk’s office processes it. If armed federal agents are stationed near a drop box, that creates a physical and psychological barrier between the voter’s envelope and the ballot count. The lawsuit claims this could deter voters from returning ballots or disrupt election judges collecting them.

This isn’t about hypotheticals in the abstract sense, but it is about a change in the rules of engagement. The policy shifts from "we enforce immigration" to "we enforce immigration where you exercise your civic rights." For a state that relies on mail-in voting to function, the location of enforcement matters as much as the act itself.

The practical bottom line for locals: Your ballot is still safe in your mailbox. But if you choose to drop it off at a center, or visit one for early voting, the legal landscape has just gotten more complicated. You now have a federal lawsuit fighting to keep armed officers out of those specific buildings, based on the premise that their presence is inherently intimidating. Until a judge rules otherwise, the policy stands.