LAS VEGAS (AP): Police in Las Vegas help federal officials capture undocumented immigrants jailed for nonviolent crimes, a shift in practice that critics say was never made public.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department also has instructed jail officials not to record on inmate booking logs that they were picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to department documents obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Illegal immigration is a top campaign issue for Republicans heading into competitive primaries in 2022, including Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who is running for Nevada governor. Many support deporting undocumented immigrants with any kind of criminal record, while Lombardo’s campaign promotes a “zero-tolerance policy for violent criminals.”
“When immigrants come to this country illegally and commit violent crimes in our communities, they need to be removed,” the campaign wrote in a statement, adding that the sheriff was “unequivocally pro-legal immigration.”
But local immigration advocates say the Las Vegas police policy toward nonviolent offenders runs contrary to Lombardo’s public position. They also say the department’s record-keeping practice is not transparent.
The post Report: Vegas police quietly give jailed immigrants to feds appeared first on The Frontier Post.
