Following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and swift, sweeping actions for curb illegal immigrationLas Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) Chief Sheriff Kevin McMahill has doubled down on a policy requiring officers to limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (IC) and not assist in federal immigration “roundups.”
The department emphasized its no-investigation policy immigration violationsaccording to a statement released on Tuesday X. The ministry said its statement was in response to “questions related to the enforcement of immigration measures.”
The policy, which was established during the first Trump administration In 2019, then amended in 2023, it states that “while Nevada peace officers have the authority to assist in the enforcement of federal laws, LVMPD officers will not enforce immigration violations.” And “police officers will not stop and question, detain, arrest, or suspend the immigration of any person on the basis that he or she is an undocumented immigrant.
“It is the policy of this department to recognize the dignity of all persons, regardless of their national origin or immigration status,” the policy states. “LVMPD is committed to community-oriented policing as a strategy that focuses on developing relationships with community members regardless of the immigration status of the suspect or victim.”
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President Donald Trump and Sheriff Kevin McMahill, chief of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. (Getty Images)
According to LVMPD policy, the department will “share criminal intelligence on transnational organized crime and international terrorism with all law enforcement agencies, including ICE.”
The policy further states that the department will also notify ICE when a foreign-born person has been arrested and charged with a violent felony, domestic violence or driving under the influence at the time of booking and release.
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However, LVMPD policy says the department “will not delay the release of an inmate for ICE” and will release a migrant “if ICE is not present at the time of the inmate’s release.”
In an interview with local newspaper 8 News Now, McMahill said his officers will not help federal authorities “catch” illegal immigrants, saying, “That’s not my job. I have too much to do.
“I don’t intend to change that policy anytime soon. What I hope will happen is that there is a bipartisan effort to secure our border.”
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill speaks to the media at the department’s headquarters in Las Vegas on January 7, 2025. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
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In previous statements, ICE has said law enforcement agencies refuse to honor their immigration “detainers” or hold requests, unnecessarily putting agents and communities at risk by prompting potentially violent confrontations and arrests in public places.
Tom HomanTrump’s border czar, has spoken out unequivocally against public officials who have vowed not to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
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“When you let a threat to public safety back into the community, it puts the community at great risk of crime, and that puts our officers at great risk. Now they have to arrest the bad guy on his turf, where he has access to who knows what kind of weapon, and that puts the public at risk ” Homan told Fox News on Wednesday.
“To the sanctuary cities, I’ve said this many times: Let us go to jail, where it’s safer for an agent to arrest a bad guy, safer for a bad guy to be arrested in jail, and safer for the community.
“I want to save lives. A secure border saves lives. And when President Trump locks this border, fewer women and children will be trafficked for sex in this country, fewer foreigners will die along the way,” he added.
“Sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want — more agents in the communities, more people arrested, more collateral arrested. So that’s the game they want to play? Game on.”
