VICTOR JOECKS: Ford’s latest immigration flip-flop
The less you remember, the more convincing Attorney General Aaron Ford becomes.
On Friday, the Department of Justice announced that it has removed Nevada from its list of sanctuary jurisdictions. The Trump administration slapped Nevada with the label in August. Gov. Joe Lombardo vigorously protested that designation. Accompanying this news was a signed “memorandum of understanding” between the DOJ and Lombardo’s office.
The “Agreement establishes a commitment between DOJ and Nevada in which the Parties agree to cooperate to the extent allowed by law to ensure federal law is followed in immigration enforcement,” it states.
It detailed steps that the Lombardo administration has taken to work more closely with federal immigration officials. This included the governor’s support for local jurisdictions re-establishing the 287(g) program. That helps ICE identify and deport illegal immigrants who’ve been arrested. Also, the Nevada Department of Corrections’ “Offender Management Division releases 100% of offenders on ICE detainers to federal authorities,” the agreement states. That compares with fewer than 20 percent prior to Donald Trump’s second term.
There’s also a section on the “model immigration policies” that Ford released earlier this year. The memorandum notes that the “Nevada Attorney General exercised his constitutional independence from the Governor to issue those policies without any direct input from the Governor’s Office.”
With those policies, Ford sought to turn Nevada into a sanctuary state.
Law enforcement “will not detain, continue to detain, delay release, or arrest any person in response to an administrative warrant entered into the National Crime Information Center database, unless provided with a judicial warrant,” Ford’s “model policies” read.
That same policy sought to limit immigration officials’ access to “nonpublic information about an individual’s release, court appearance, or any other personally identifiable information.”
Ford’s office also wrote “nothing in the model policies prohibits Nevada law enforcement agencies from adopting additional restrictions on assisting federal immigration agents.” When the policies were released, Ford said, “I am very proud of this collective effort.”
What a shameful statement. Policies such as these are why criminal illegal immigrants can commit crimes and be arrested but not deported.
Think about Laken Riley, who was murdered by Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. In 2023, New York police arrested Ibarra, but he was released before ICE could obtain a detainer. If he had been deported and not allowed to re-enter the country, Ibarra wouldn’t have been able to murder Riley in Georgia.
Often, criminals commit minor crimes before more serious ones. If ICE can deport illegals for the former, they won’t be in the country to commit the latter. This is why deporting illegal immigrants who’ve committed additional crimes is popular.
That explains Ford’s reaction to the memorandum signed by the DOJ and Lombardo. “I have never supported sanctuary for criminals,” Ford claimed.
That is laughable. It’s not just his model immigration policies. In 2017, Ford co-sponsored a bill to make Nevada a sanctuary state.
What Ford really wants is sanctuary from his past positions.
Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.
