(The Center Square) — The superintendent of the nation's fifth-biggest school district said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to not conduct raids or arrests in schools in Las Vegas or the county surrounding it.
The move comes in direct defiance of President Donald Trump, who rolled back immigration enforcement protection earlier this year for special spaces like churches and schools. In Nevada, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo recently signaled an intention to allow full ICE activity.
“They can do their business elsewhere in our community, but… as far as they’ve indicated today, not going to be doing any of their business in our schools,” Clark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert told the Nevada Independent. “They understand our job is to educate … all pre-K-12 children here in Southern Nevada.”
Ebert added she and school district Police Chief Henry Blackeye talked to immigration enforcement officials.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice put Nevada on a list of immigration enforcement “sanctuary states,” as requested by Trump.
“Some State and local officials nevertheless continue to use their authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of Federal immigration laws,” Trump wrote in an executive order earlier this year, condemning sanctuary states.
Neither the DOJ or Trump administration have explained why Nevada is considered a sanctuary state. It's one of the two states on the 12-state list with a Republican governor.
In the latest legislative session in Nevada, the only bill passed by both chambers directly addressing ICE activity was related to schools. AB 217 would have banned schools or school employees from allowing ICE agents on school grounds, but was vetoed by Gov. Lombardo, who called it “well-intentioned but fundamentally overbroad.”
Democrats have majorities in both houses of the Legislature but lack enough seats to override vetoes.
When the DOJ list was released, Lombardo explained his stance in a post on the social media site X: "Nevada has followed all federal laws and cooperated with federal immigration authorities, and will continue to do so.”
Some in the Silver State see this as misplaced loyalties by the Republican governor.
“Our children are afraid to show up to school because of ICE raids,” said Assemblymember Cecelia González, D-Las Vegas, in a post on X. “As an educator myself, I wrote AB 217 to protect them. Joe Lombardo could’ve stood up for our most vulnerable, but he chose Trump instead. He failed.”
Fear of immigration enforcement raids among students and parents in the state has been widely reported by teachers, in a school district where nearly half of the 300,000 enrolled students are Hispanic or Latino, per the Nevada Department of Education.
Several arrests across the country have indicated a new reality for schools in the U.S. A father in Incline Village outside of Carson City was arrested in May by ICE agents while walking his children to school.
In Trump’s January statement against traditionally protected spaces against immigration enforcement, he added, “Law enforcement officers should continue to use that discretion along with a healthy dose of common sense.”
Shortly after the president's statement, the Clark County School District reiterated its mission to allow all students into their schools. “Children in Nevada are entitled to a free appropriate public education, irrespective of their immigration status.”
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