LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If someone is in the country illegally and accused of a crime here in Clark County, what should come first: prosecution or deportation?
After a recent case where the defendant was deported with their criminal case still pending, the issue caught our attention. I sat down with District Attorney Steve Wolfson and Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who agree there's a gap in the system.
Channel 13 senior reporter Alyssa Bethencourt took the question to the county's top law enforcement to get answers:
To understand that gap, Channel 13 was granted access inside the Clark County Detention Center, which is overseen by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. They say everyone booked into jail goes through the same process.
"A lot of people still have this idea that if you're an undocumented person, that you're treated different when you come in our jail — you're housed differently, you're fed differently — none of which is true, by the way," McMahill told me.
But during booking, if someone is identified as foreign-born, Metro police make a notification to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
That's where 287(g) comes in — a federal program that allows local law enforcement to work with ICE on immigration enforcement.
McMahill says for Metro police, that work stays within the walls of the Clark County Detention Center.
"It's all jail-based," he said. "We don't do anything in the community. We don't do round-ups."
From there, ICE determines a person's immigration status and whether it wants to take action. But ICE and the criminal courts are working on two different clocks, and deportation doesn't necessarily wait for the criminal case to end.
"My preference is that they deal with their criminal charges before ICE decides to move forward with the case that they have, but I don't have any authority to stop them from doing that," McMahill said.
We've already seen what can happen when it doesn't. You might remember the arrest of John Johnstone, a former Working Dogs of Nevada trainer accused of abusing dogs in his care. Johnstone was arrested, then deported to Scotland while his criminal case was still pending.
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"We had him in custody, and we just basically opened up the door and said, 'All right, have a good life,'" John Waudby of Nevada Animal Advocates told Channel 13 in a previous interview.
Waudy had been following the case and wanted to see Johnstone answer to the charges. District Attorney Steve Wolfson told me his office didn't know Johnston was being deported until it had already been done.
"The frustrating part was, we didn't get to get that degree of justice," Wolfson said.
A warrant remains in place if Johnstone ever comes back to the United States. But his case exposes a question with much higher stakes: What if next time, the charge is murder?
Take, for example, the case of Yoni Barrios, who killed two people and injured six more in a 2022 stabbing rampage on the Las Vegas Strip. Federal immigration officials said he was in the country illegally, but Barrios was not deported. Instead, he was prosecuted and is now serving life in prison without parole.
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So, what has to happen to ensure the next serious case plays out the same way?
"In the most serious cases, we are aware of what ICE sometimes does, and so we are in communications and starting a more regular dialogue with the federal government about potential deportees, because our desire is to have these people face justice before they are potentially deported," Wolfson said.
Wolfson tells me communication is key, because the decisions don't all belong to one agency. Metro police control the jail, county prosecutors control the criminal case, and ICE has jurisdiction over the federal immigration case. So, when those timelines collide, who should get priority?
"I think it should be us," Wolfson told me. "I mean, if we decided to prosecute somebody, especially for a serious, violent crime, we want them convicted. We want them punished."
Both Wolfson and McMahill agree they want the criminal case dealt with here first. The question is whether that always happens.
"The level of cooperation I'll have with the federal government is, after they've committed a crime, there's many of them I don't want to remain in our community," McMahill said.
Wolfson tells me his office is now working toward more regular communication with federal authorities in serious cases. But as it stands, the sheriff says once ICE decided to take a defendant, he doesn't have the authority to make them wait.
Do you have a question or news tip about crime and public safety in Southern Nevada? Reach out to Channel 13 senior reporter Alyssa Bethencourt:
