Clark County Nevada Sheriff Rejects Federal Requests to Use Las Vegas Police Officer for Immigration Enforcement

Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Wednesday that he has turned down numerous requests from “various different federal agencies” to use the Metropolitan Police Department for immigration enforcement outside the agency’s limited role at the Clark County jail.

“And I just won’t do that,” McMahill told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, adding that his agency doesn’t have the resources to do so. “I’ve got a lot going on when it comes to crime here,” he added.

He noted that crime has continued to decrease in the last three years.

As President Donald Trump’s administration moves to fulfill his campaign promise of carrying out “mass deportations,” McMahill said Metro is complying with federal guidelines.

That includes its implementation of the Laken Riley Act, which expanded the types of crimes allegedly committed by migrants — and booked for — Metro reports to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE then has a chance to pick up those inmates. But even after Trump took office for a second term, McMahill said the federal government did not have enough resources to take custody of all those persons.

“We tell them they’re going to be released between this time and this time, and they sometimes get them and sometimes don’t,” the sheriff said.

However, “it seems like in the last couple of weeks, they’re picking up more and more people,” McMahill added.

Increased immigration enforcement

He noted that various federal agencies have been tasked for immigration enforcement locally, including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“I don’t think they were necessarily set up to go do what the administration wanted them to do, but I think they’re certainly increasing their activity here in Southern Nevada and across the state,” McMahill said.

Gov. Joe Lombardo, who preceded McMahill as sheriff, also told the Review-Journal this week that immigration enforcement had increased in Nevada, but “not substantially.”

Lombardo said that ICE collaboration is up to local jurisdictions, describing it as a “resource issue (with the) ability to handle calls for service as their primary mission versus rounding up illegal aliens.”

If the Trump administration asks him to deploy Nevada National Guard members to the border, Lombardo maintained that he would allow it under a reimbursement model.

Metro’s jail-based collaboration

While Metro participates in regular briefings with federal officials outlining their immigration enforcement priorities, McMahill said his officers don’t get involved in the operations outside the jail.

He said that about 300 inmates of foreign descent currently booked at the Clark County Detention Center have been flagged for ICE to at least “take a look at them.”

Metro doesn’t have the ability to determine inmates’ immigration status, said McMahill, adding that “That’s an ICE responsibility.”

“I have people on that list in the jail that are from lots of countries you wouldn’t even maybe think about,” he said. “But the vast majority of them do come from Mexico and Central America,” he added.

For years, Metro has honored ICE holds on migrants with federal warrants and reports inmates accused of violent crimes, DUI and domestic violence.

The Laken Riley Act, signed into law this year, requires police to also report persons accused of theft-related crimes. Critics have argued that the law could place migrants merely accused of minor crimes in deportation proceedings.

The entire Nevada congressional delegation voted for it.

“We have this conversation all the time that people think that police make the laws. We don’t,” McMahill said. “The Laken Riley Act was passed by all of our individuals that were elected to Congress today on both sides of the aisle.”

‘People that are wanted for crimes’

An Emerson College Poll about Trump’s first 50 days in office showed that 48 percent supported his immigration policies, 40 percent opposed and 12 percent were neutral. That’s the highest mark for topics those surveyed were asked about.

“We are focused on people that are wanted for crimes that they’ve committed in our community, and whether ICE wants them or not is entirely a function of the Clark County Detention Center,” McMahill said.

There are no plans for Metro to enter into formal agreements with ICE and its 287 (g) programs, McMahill said. However, that could change if the federal government passes a law that requires it to, he added.

Metro ended its jail-based 287 (g) agreement in 2019.

The Trump administration has threatened withholding federal funding for so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions that don’t collaborate with immigration enforcement.

“There’s lots of conversation around withholding grants across the spectrum of the federal government,” McMahill said. “With all that’s going on, we have an exposure of about $30 million for programs and personnel at Metro if we were deemed to be non-compliant.”

‘Migrant crime’ in Las Vegas?

Throughout the election cycle, Trump asserted that migrants were responsible for rising violence, labeling it as “migrant crime.”

McMahill said that Metro recently arrested a suspected “Tren De Aragua” gang member and noted arrests of MS-13 gang members accused in a local yearlong murder spree starting in 2017.

“When you look at the overall picture of crime … I wouldn’t say to you that I would describe that crime is driven by the migrant community here in Las Vegas,” he said. “But again, I’m only talking about Las Vegas.”

McMahill said he’s only heard anecdotal stories about migrants being taken into custody by ICE in the community.

He said federal officials have told him that they’re focusing on wanted people, like those previously deported.

“I don’t have any way to tell whether that’s the case or not,” said McMahill.

“I wish I had a message of calm for a number of people, but the truth is that the current administration says that if you’re in this country, and you didn’t arrive here legally, you’ve already committed a crime,” McMahill said. “And so they are going after those individuals, and there’s no doubt about that.”

______________________

Visit reviewjournal.com..

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.