LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Two months into President Donald Trump’s second term, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot say how many undocumented immigrants it has arrested in southern Nevada.
The president campaigned on sweeping immigration reform, including mass deportations of people living in the country illegally. Since the president’s inauguration, illegal border crossings have plummeted to their lowest levels in decades, statistics showed.
Over the administration’s first 50 days, ICE arrested nearly 33,000 undocumented immigrants, including 75% accused of or convicted of a crime, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. However, the department could not provide a specific number of arrests in southern Nevada when asked Thursday.
An ICE data dashboard shows the number of arrests through last September, which includes more than 15,000 arrests in several western states during the four years of the Biden administration.
Federal court records the 8 News Now Investigators have reviewed since Jan. 20 show a handful of cases involving illegal immigration. However, no press release on the department’s website about illegal immigration posted since Jan. 20 involves a person in Nevada or Las Vegas.
“Since Jan. 20, ICE has significantly increased its immigration enforcement activities with additional support from other federal law enforcement and DOD partners,” a spokesperson said. “In an effort to keep the American people informed about the results of our efforts with only the most accurate information, ICE is compiling and validating the data and is working toward publishing our enforcement statistics on a monthly basis.”
In one case filed in January, federal officials in Las Vegas arrested a man deported 14 times following his release from prison on sex charges. The arrest happened during the final days of the Biden administration though the criminal proceedings began under Trump.
In another case, ICE arrested a man in southern Nevada described as a political refugee.
Metro and Henderson police will alert ICE to a person in their jail facilities accused of certain crimes. Before Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act in late January, Metro’s policy was to alert ICE if an inmate was in custody for violent felonies, DUI, and domestic violence-related crimes, LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
Metro updated its policy to add theft, larceny, shoplifting and assaulting a police officer to the list to align with the new federal law.
Officials at ICE did not say how many of the nearly 33,000 ended up deported. The nearly 33,000 arrests during the first two months of the Trump administration amount to nearly all the arrests in 2024, the department said.
McMahill and leaders at Henderson police previously told 8 News Now their departments would not help federal law enforcement in any immigration roundups.
