The state of Nevada is facing a catastrophic loss in federal funding if the current sanctuary designation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) remains in place. The administration started with Las Vegas last May – alarming Democratic and Republican officials alike – as both sides claim there are no policies, secret or declared, that would land them in hot water with Trump. But no one has asked the one-in-ten residents of the state why they are harboring the undocumented. That’s why Sin City and the great state of Nevada have been banished to Trump’s chateau bow wow and on the list of shame.
Documented immigrants have arrived with the permission of H-2A visas for agricultural work and H-2B visas for non-agricultural work. The Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting industry led the H-2A filings with 4,654. The H-2B numbers by state aren’t readily available, but consider this: There is a statutory annual cap of 66,000, which has been reached every year since FY2014, yet some 190,000 permission-less folks are living in Nevada, and 84% have been in the US for more than five years, according to Pew Research Center.
Trump’s executive order makes it clear that those sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to comply and “remain in defiance of Federal law” are in trouble. The attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security “shall pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations and bring such jurisdictions into compliance with the laws of the United States.”
Despite the uphill battle presented to the good folks that run the Silver State by Trump and his mission to purge illegal immigrants, Republicans and Democrats alike are demanding answers. There doesn’t seem to be a single city, county, state, or federal official who hasn’t spoken out against being mislabeled as a sanctuary for illegal aliens. Even political rivals are on the same page, all the while pointing fingers.
Randomly, the day after the list was posted, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill entered the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department into a formal partnership with ICE.
Nevada and Vermont – two states led by Republican governors – landed on the president’s list. That’s got to be embarrassing for both leaders. Vermont makes sense; Nevada needs clarity. Officials are banging the drum, calling the decision an “error,” and, as would be a common response, panicking. There are millions of dollars at stake from federal funds that Trump could conceivably cut off without much more than the stroke of the pen.
It seems Nevada might have to show good faith in getting its liberal citizenry – almost half of the electorate – to stop their private policies of harboring illegals.