Metro’s formal agreement to collaborate with ICE signed

The Metropolitan Police Department has formally re-entered into an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allows its jail to hold certain undocumented immigrants for an extended period of time to allow federal agents time to pick them up.

The 287(g) agreement was signed on Monday, according to the federal government.

Metro said its involvement with the “warrant service officer” contract is limited to the Clark County Detention Center.

A term sheet had not been posted online and Metro did not respond to an inquiry requesting a copy of the contract.

Under the agreement, the federal government will train staff at the jail to serve warrants for inmates who have ICE-requested detainers, Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Those inmates will be held for up to 48 hours after they’re due to be released on local charges, McMahill said.

McMahill said he expects that Metro will not need to invoke 287(g) powers often because ICE already conducts daily pickups from the jail.

Immigrant advocates said that the program exposes local jurisdictions to costly lawsuits under Fourth Amendment claims that guarantee protections against search and seizure.

Metro has maintained that their collaboration with federal immigration enforcement will continue to be limited to the jail.

Before the formal agreement was approved, Metro already worked with ICE by flagging inmates accused of violent crimes, domestic violence and DUI so that agents could pick them up when they were released from the jail.

The Laken Riley Act signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year expanded the reportable crimes to include theft-related offenses.

Four Nevada agencies with 287(g) agreements

Metro has joined the sheriff’s offices of Lyon, Douglas and Mineral counties as the only Nevada agencies in the jail-based 287(g) programs.

Metro submitted its memorandum of agreement to ICE on May 30, a day after the Trump administration labeled the city of Las Vegas as a so-called “sanctuary” for immigrants with no legal status in late May.

The city of Las Vegas and Metro had participated in the 287 (g) program at their jails but withdrew in 2019 following a court decision that raised concerns about the program’s constitutionality.

McMahill said the conversations about signing onto the program had begun weeks prior to the classification.

Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo rejected the sanctuary label. The list of hundreds of such jurisdictions was quietly taken down with no explanation from the Department of Homeland Security.

It wasn’t clear how many people the police department has reported and turned over to ICE at the jail this year. Metro cited confidentiality and privacy when the department denied a Review-Journal records request asking for the data.

McMahill said that during a recent day earlier this month, 350 inmates within the jail population had been flagged for ICE. However, he added that the number fluctuates because there is a daily average of 250 overall arrests.

Henderson police have an agreement with ICE to hold federal inmates and already reports every unauthorized migrant local officers arrest regardless of alleged crime. The department said it wasn’t entering into a formal 287(g) agreement.

North Las Vegas police said it reports inmates to ICE who fall under the Laken Riley Act.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.