LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The ACLU of Nevada filed a lawsuit towards the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division, claiming it’s refusing to launch public data associated to immigration enforcement.
The ACLU of Nevada filed the lawsuit Wednesday, looking for a courtroom order compelling LVMPD to show over paperwork associated to its “foreign born” reserving coverage and its 287(g) settlement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The ACLU stated Metro expanded its cooperation with ICE, regardless of publicly assuring the Las Vegas group that it will not detain folks on behalf of ICE.
In January 2025, after the passage of the Laken Riley Act, LVMPD posted a coverage that expanded the checklist of costs that should be reported to ICE when a “foreign born” individual is booked into the Clark County Detention Heart, no matter their immigration standing, the ACLU of Nevada stated.
Months after publicly denying any intention to cooperate with ICE, LVMPD then “quietly” signed a proper 287(g) settlement that authorizes officers to serve and execute civil immigration warrants and to detain folks as much as 48 hours previous their scheduled launch, in line with the ACLU of Nevada.
“I don’t want them in my community anymore,” LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill stated about undocumented criminals already in his jail throughout an unique interview in June with the 8 Information Now Investigators.
“We had child pornographers being released; folks that had shot people being released,” McMahill informed the 8 Information Now Investigators. “Yesterday we had a guy that shot at a bunch of people get released — assault with a deadly weapon — and that was also a part of the catalyst to do this that these are people that have committed very serious offenses and were in the country illegally and because of manpower issues and the timing we couldn’t turn them over to ICE.”
Las Vegas police to rejoin ICE program to carry undocumented immigrants already in jail: ‘I don’t need them in my group anymore’
On Jan. 22 and June 4, the ACLU of Nevada submitted public data requests looking for readability across the 287(g) settlement and the coverage shift. The ACLU of Nevada claims that regardless of its obligations underneath the Nevada Public Data Act (NPRA), LVMPD failed to supply any of the requested paperwork.
“The refusal to disclose these records raises serious concerns of a deliberate attempt to hide the full extent of LVMPD’s involvement with ICE,” ACLU of Nevada stated.
“Nevadans have the right to know what their local police agencies are doing when it comes to cooperation with ICE. LVMPD recently signed a legally questionable 287(g) agreement with ICE, despite previous public assurances that it would not participate or subsidize the cost of detaining people on behalf of the federal government. Alongside that agreement, LVMPD’s ‘foreign born’ policy raises a variety of concerns for U.S. citizens as the federal government continues to threaten naturalized citizens with denaturalization. What is done in the dark will come to light, and we won’t be stonewalled. We will now pursue these records in court because Nevadans deserve government transparency. We will see LVMPD in court,” ACLU of Nevada government director Athar Haseebullah, Esq., stated.
The ACLU of Nevada stated the requested public data are “one of the best ways to shed light on what government actors, including local police, actually intend to do versus what they say they will do.”
8 Information Now reached out to LVMPD, nonetheless, it doesn’t touch upon pending litigation.
