Attorney General Aaron Ford wants to make Nevada a sanctuary state. He just doesn’t want you to know that he wants to make Nevada a sanctuary state.
On Monday, Ford released a “Model Immigration Policies” report for state and local agencies and schools. Ford wants Nevada law enforcement and other entities to stop working with federal immigration officials.
The policy states that law enforcement “personnel 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.”
Further, “the model policies do not mandate that Nevada law enforcement officials provide assistance, even when they are expressly permitted to do so,” the document reads.
Yes, Nevada’s chief law enforcement officer is telling law enforcement agencies they don’t have to cooperate with another law enforcement agency.
Little wonder then that the report warns, “The model policies are not intended to provide legal advice.” In other words, Ford doesn’t want to be blamed if an agency ends up breaking the law by adopting the attorney general’s advice. But if an agency doesn’t adopt these policies, it must explain itself to Ford’s office.
Ford justifies this by making it seem as if he’s simply looking out for taxpayers. “These model policies relieve Nevada law enforcement of the burden of doing unpaid, unfunded federal immigration enforcement,” the document reads.
This makes it sound as if ICE is demanding that the Metropolitan Police Department conduct widespread immigration raids. It’s not. ICE wants Metro and other Nevada law enforcement agencies to notify ICE when they arrest an illegal alien. ICE will also ask Nevada police to hold illegal aliens so its agents can come and pick them up.
This kind of cooperation is standard practice in law enforcement. Say Nevada cops arrest someone wanted for a crime in Virginia. It would be absurd to release him, claiming that detaining him would constitute unfunded enforcement of Virginia law.
Laughably, Ford claims the model policies should not be “interpreted to imply that Nevada harbors or provides ‘sanctuary’ to those who commit crimes.”
While the term “sanctuary state” doesn’t have a formal legal definition, here’s a practical one: A sanctuary state gives sanctuary to illegal migrants by refusing to work with ICE when illegal migrants are arrested. That’s what Ford wants in Nevada.
On Wednesday, Gov. Joe Lombardo rebuked Ford. In a post on X, Lombardo wrote, “The attorney general does not have the authority to make Nevada a sanctuary state.”
Ford, who’s running against Lombardo for governor in 2026, immediately retreated. He claimed the report was just something the Legislature asked him to do in 2021 — “nothing more, nothing less.” Also, the model policies don’t “prevent cooperation with law enforcement,” he said.
Read the policy quoted above. That’s garbage.
Ford’s about-face is informative. He knows sanctuary state policies aren’t popular. But there’s little downside to pushing unpopular policies if your opponent won’t push back. As soon as Lombardo did, Ford ran away scared.
Ford fights for illegals. Nevadans need Lombardo to keep pushing back against the Democrats’ radical agenda.
Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow
@victorjoecks on X.
