During his weekly social media message posted Aug. 8, Lyon County Sheriff Brad Pope refuted
Nevada’s inclusion on a list of sanctuary states.
On Aug. 5, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published a list of states, cities and counties it
identified as having policies, laws or regulations that impede enforcement of federal
immigration laws. In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the
DOJ to publish a list of jurisdictions it identified as “sanctuary jurisdictions.” Nevada was
identified as one of 12 states, the District of Columbia, four counties and 18 cities as sanctuary
jurisdictions.
Pope said his experience partnering with nearly every law enforcement agency in Nevada has
been that this is not the case, and he stated that Lyon County is not a sanctuary county.
“During my tenure as sheriff, and regardless of what party is in office in Washington, D.C., the
Lyon County Sheriff’s Office has always partnered with our federal agencies,” Pope wrote.
“These partnerships include assisting with immigration enforcement, drug enforcement, gang
enforcement, child porn and exploitation enforcement, human trafficking enforcement, and
burglary/robbery investigations.
“The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office commitment to upholding the law and assisting our law
enforcement partners, federal or state, will not waiver or change with the political winds,” he
added.
Pope said Attorney General Aaron Ford has published model immigration policies, mandated
by the Nevada Legislature, providing recommendations for state and local entities. Pope said
the attorney general states this is only a model and not a mandate.
An excerpt from the model immigration policy law states:
“[LEA] will not perform or support the functions of a federal immigration agent or otherwise
engage in immigration enforcement activities, whether on its own accord, pursuant to
informal arrangements, or under an agreement made pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1357(g) if such
agreement violates state or local law or policy.
a. Nothing in this section prohibits [LEA] and [LEA] personnel from cooperating with or
assisting a federal immigration agent in an officer safety capacity, such as traffic control,
during immigration enforcement activities, if prior approval is received from [LEA sheriff,
chief of police, or agency head].
b. [LEA] personnel will not participate in any immigration enforcement activities except in an
officer safety capacity, such as traffic control, if preapproved by [LEA sheriff, chief of police, or
agency head].”
Pope said the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office operates opposite of this model policy.
“I have issued a standard order that our deputies and detention facility will support federal
immigration officers in any operation within Lyon County,” Pope said. “The detention facility
cooperates with federal immigration authorities in accordance with the law when placing
immigration holds on those who are incarcerated within our jail. As recently as Aug. 5,
immigration authorities took custody of a validated gang member who was in the country
illegally and incarcerated in our jail on burglary charges.”
The attorney general’s model immigration policy is available at:
https://ag.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/agnvgov/Content/Issues/OAG%20Model%20Immigration%2
0Policies%20-%202.24.25.pdf
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