A Denver judge appeared unpersuaded Monday that a federal subpoena referencing child abuse gave Gov. Jared Polis the latitude to side-step Colorado law and turn over personal information about undocumented children and their sponsors to immigration authorities.

“It’s one of those instances where — am I going to believe you, or am I going to believe my own lying eyes?” District Judge A. Bruce Jones told Thomas Rogers III, a private attorney representing Polis in a lawsuit filed by a state employee.

The lawsuit contends that Polis’ directive to comply with the subpoena violates state law.

In his comments during a hearing, Jones also noted that Polis’ office hadn’t appeared to seek any more information about the subpoena before complying with it. A senior state employee later testified that, to his knowledge, Polis’ office made no effort to determine if authorities were actually investigating child abuse — and the office did not provide assurances to state employees that the data requested would be used only to check on the children’s welfare, rather than to deport them.

The testimony and Jones’ skepticism came at the start of Monday’s hearing in a state labor employee’s lawsuit against Polis. The employee, Scott Moss, argues that Polis’ order to turn over the personal information of 35 people to federal immigration authorities runs afoul of a law that generally prohibits information-sharing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The hearing is set to continue Tuesday afternoon, after which Jones will decide whether to temporarily — or permanently — block Polis’ directive to comply with the subpoena.