SANCTUARY SUPPORTING NV DEMS OPPOSE RENEWING LVMPD/ ICE PARTNERSHIP

July 20, 2019

Rob Lauer Political Reporter

This week the Las Vegas Metro Police Department renewed their grant request to participate in a program through the Department of Justice to check the immigration status of everyone arrested and brought to the detention center. The Federal Program funds police officers in jails to check the immigration status of people arrested.

Lombardo must walk a tight rope between the powerful Clark County Commissioners like Justin Jones who oppose immigration enforcement efforts and the majority of citizens who support it. So, on one hand Lombardo accepts the cash from ICE and the Feds, but on the other hand he refuses to turn over to ICE illegal aliens arrested for “low level misdemeanors”.

Lombardo must fight the ACLU, “The Fourth Amendment requires probable cause and a warrant signed by a judge,” ACLU spokesman Wesley Juhl said. “With ICE detainers, a lot of times they are signed by an officer, not a judge.”

But back in February of this year:

Less than a month after LVMPD Sheriff Joe Lombardo was re-elected, he quietly stopped turning over illegal aliens to ICE. Metro receives money under a Federal DOJ program to screen everyone booked into the jail and to turn over any illegal aliens ICE requests. Under the change, according to law enforcement sources, Lombardo has directed the jail not to turn over illegal aliens charged only with traffic and low level misdemeanors.

According to news reports, Lombardo was lobbied by immigrant activists recently causing him to change the policy.

The question is; does Lombardo’s policy change put that money at risk and does it violate President Trump’s executive order upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding screening and treatment of immigrants?