LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is suing the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and alleging the department is refusing to release public records related to their partnership with federal immigration authorities.
WATCH: Las Vegas police being sued by ACLU Nevada over immigrant documentation dispute
This all stems from a piece of legislation called the Laken Riley Act. In January, it became the first piece of legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law at the beginning of his second term in office.
The act requires members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain any illegal immigrant who is arrested, charged or convicted with burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. Two new acts that were added to the list of offenses include assaulting a law enforcement officer and acts causing death or injury.
In response to federal policy changing, LVMPD updated its ICE notifications policy, which you can see below. It "expanded the list of changes against foreign-born individuals that must be reported to ICE by the Detentions Services Division."
According to ACLU officials, "this vague policy increases the likelihood that U.S. citizens and documented individuals could be wrongfully detained by ICE."
In June, LVMPD was accepted to partner with ICE's 287(g) program, which allows designated officers to be trained by ICE. They work in the jail and help with enforcing federal immigration laws.
"What this did, this change that I made, all it is, is if ICE can't physically pick them up, but has produced a warrant for them, I hold them on that warrant until ICE can come and get them, up to 48 hours," Sheriff Kevin McMahill previously told Channel 13. "That's it. That's the only change."
WATCH | Channel 13 sits down with Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill after seeking ICE partnership
ACLU officials claim the 287(g) agreement would also authorize officers to serve and execute civil immigration warrants.
The agency says they submitted public records requests to LVMPD on January 22 and June 4 to seek clarity about both of those issues. However, ACLU officials allege the department has only produced a portion of the January records and none of the June records, which raises concerns of a "deliberate attempt to hide the full extent of LVMPD's involvement with ICE."
When looking at the lawsuit, LVMPD's counsel outlined his legal framework for only partially fulfilling the ACLU's January request, which included "citations concerning responses to unreasonably burdensome requests, production of records that are not readily available, and federal immigration regulations making information about deportable aliens who are detained confidential."
In June, ACLU officials emailed LVMPD and their attorney to clarify what records were being withheld due to the immigration records privilege and the law enforcement privilege, as invoked by LVMPD. To date, they claim neither have responded.
The ACLU says this is a violation of the Nevada Public Records Act.
“LVMPD recently signed a legally questionable 287(g) agreement with ICE, despite previous public assurances that it would not participate or subsidize the cost of detaining people on behalf of the federal government," Athar Haseebullah, Esq., Executive Director of ACLU of Nevada, wrote in a statement. "Alongside that agreement, LVMPD’s ‘foreign born’ policy raises a variety of concerns for U.S. citizens as the federal government continues to threaten naturalized citizens with denaturalization. What is done in the dark will come to light, and we won’t be stonewalled. We will now pursue these records in court because Nevadans deserve government transparency. We will see LVMPD in court.”
I reached out to LVMPD to see if they would like to respond and was told the department does not comment on pending litigation.