DENVER (KDVR) — There are new developments in the court battle that have put the governor on the hot seat over state immigration laws.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement subpoenaed the state for records — but a whistleblower filed a lawsuit to stop the governor's office from turning them over. Late Wednesday, a Denver district judge ruled that the whistleblower's agency did not have to turn over the documents, but they did not tell the governor he could not comply in the future.

Unions representing state workers said they are satisfied with the judge's ruling, but now they want the governor to be clear on where he stands when it comes to collaborating with ICE.

"Yesterday's ruling was a huge victory. I want to be very clear that while there were limitations placed on that ruling with respect to whether the governor can direct certain people to produce information, the court made it very clear that any production under the subpoena on its face would be a violation of our state laws. So any person who is asked to produce, now has an order from this court to say no, absolutely not," said Laura Wolf, the attorney representing Moss in this case.

Unions and the whistleblower who brought the suit against the governor, Scott Moss of the Department of Labor and Employment, called the judge's ruling a victory.

Lawsuit alleged Governor sought to share PPI with ICE

The lawsuit alleged that Governor Jared Polis instructed Moss in his role as the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics Director to share what's known as PPI or personal identifying information. ICE said they were requesting the information to make sure unaccompanied children were being properly cared for, but Moss pushed back on that argument.

"The state revealed that it had no evidence of any harm to children, it never made any use of state resources to look into child welfare which it would have done if child welfare were a real concern, rather than cover as a state's own witness admitted it was, for the state's effort to do nothing more than collaborate and listen when ICE came back to them," Moss said at press conference Thursday.

While the judge ruled the governor can't make state employees comply with the ICE subpoena, he did not block the governor or other people who work for the state from responding to the subpoena. State workers are now urging the governor to make his stance clear. Workers say CDLE is the only agency they know of that has been met with ICE subpoenas. Meanwhile, they have set up a website for other state employees to speak up if they have experienced any comparable requests.

"We don't know of any other ICE subpoenas at this time. I don't think it's surprising anyone that there is general data gathering that is happening that may end up in the hands of ICE. Those are things we are very concerned about," said Diane Byrne, president of Colorado WINS, a union representing state workers who also joined the lawsuit. "We did send a letter to Governor Polis this morning, asking him to confirm that he is not going to ask any more state employees to comply with subpoena. And once we get that confirmation, I think people will feel reassured. And that is not just reassurance for state employees who I'm focused on but it could also be a good way to lead by example."

Governor responds to preliminary ruling

Governor Polis' office sent FOX31 a statement saying:

“We are reviewing the court’s preliminary ruling to determine next steps in this matter. We will abide by the court’s decision as we have always said we would. Governor Polis remains committed to fully and promptly cooperating with federal criminal investigations into child trafficking and exploitation, while protecting unaccompanied children in Colorado. We hope if information is needed for criminal investigations, that going forward HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] will provide subpoenas for state information consistent with this ruling.” -Spokesperson for the Office of Governor Jared Polis

The co-chairs of Colorado's Democratic Latino Caucus expressed their disappointment in the governor's handling of the matter.

"We hope that we can continue to be partners to address the issues that harm our communities but there has also been a breach in trust, not only from the public but also from us," said state Representative Elizabeth Velasco. "We look forward to moving forward and continuing to support our communities but I do think that harm has been done to public trust and also to support with the legislature," she continued. "Not only has trust been broken with the immigrant community, trust has been broken with the Latino Caucus and the Latino community more broadly," said state Senator Julie Gonzales.

Attorneys and workers said this ruling is just the first step in the matter. The lawsuit is still pending, but they are hoping the state ultimately decides not to pursue the case any further.