Why was Las Vegas on Trump's 'sanctuary' list? Officials don't know

Ricardo Torres-Cortez, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Jun 10, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

LAS VEGAS — Nearly two weeks after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated the city of Las Vegas as a “sanctuary” for undocumented immigrants, which threatens withholding of federal funds, local officials haven’t been told why.

The DHS list of hundreds of jurisdictions, which it alleges flout federal immigration laws, quietly was taken down with no further explanation.

“At this time, we’ve had no additional communication from DHS at the federal level regarding the sanctuary city list,” a Las Vegas spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

A day after the May 29 sanctuary classification, the Metropolitan Police Department signed onto an agreement to formally collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Clark County Detention Center.

The 287(g) contract, which was still pending Tuesday, would allow jail staff to serve ICE warrants for wanted and unauthorized immigrants booked there.

It also would give ICE up to 48 hours to pick up the people after they are due to be released.

Metro and the city already collaborated with ICE in an informal manner, flagging inmates booked on allegations of violent crimes, DUI and domestic violence, according to officials.

The list of reportable crimes was expanded to include alleged theft-related offenses after President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act earlier this year.

As a result, the city flagged just under 300 inmates at the municipal jail to ICE from Jan. 1 through May, compared to two people during the same time period in 2024, according to officials.

DHS hasn’t responded to media inquiries asking why the sanctuary list was taken down or why Las Vegas was included.

‘Beneficial to the community at large’

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which “seeks to reduce overall immigration to a more normal level,” believes the classification is accurate for the entirety of Clark County.

In a recently released report, the national nonprofit tagged the county as a sanctuary, citing immigration-related policies from Metro and the Clark County School District.

“Sanctuary jurisdictions, as defined by FAIR, are states or localities that have enacted laws, ordinances, policies, practices, resolutions, or regulations that prohibit or impede communication or cooperation with immigration officials, or otherwise obstruct the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws,” the organization states.

Earlier this year, school district officials noted that they do not check students’ immigration status or enforce immigration law. The immigration reform group also cited a 2017 school district resolution in which it reiterated “certain restrictions” ICE agents faced “upon entering our campuses.”

Gov. Joe Lombardo recently vetoed a bill that would have limited the agents’ access to school grounds.

The immigration reform group referred to Metro’s current policy that says officers won’t enforce immigration enforcement outside the jail, and cited an ICE tracker that states the department does not honor the federal agency’s detainers at the jail.

The former would change if the 287(g) agreement is ultimately approved.

“It would seem reasonable that any police department, if you get a foreign criminal off the streets and out of the country, that would be beneficial to the community at large,” FAIR’s media director Ira Mehlman said.

Mehlman said that the immigration reform group met with the Department of Justice about a month ago in which the so-called sanctuary jurisdictions came up.

The group has spoken to the federal government since DHS pulled the sanctuary spreadsheet, according to Mehlman.

“They said there seemed to be errors or disputes; some contention from the part of some of the jurisdictions listed,” he said. “I guess it’s under review.”

Mehlman added: “In the interim, ours came out and we expect that they’re going to be looking at ours.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada described the sanctuary designations as “political in nature.”

“The city of Las Vegas actually cooperates with ICE quite a bit more than it is required to by law and certainly more than we want, but I wasn’t super surprised personally to see the city included because I know the term ‘sanctuary’ is mostly political in nature, rather than factual,” West Juhl, ACLU of Nevada’s communications and campaign director, wrote in a statement.

_____