Las Vegas police announced on social media Friday that they have expanded their Immigration and Customs Enforcement notification policy to include more criminal charges in response to a new immigration bill signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Amid the onset of a Trump administration that has vowed to step up deportations and crack down on illegal immigration, the Metropolitan Police Department had posted its then-current ICE notification policy to X as a “reminder” on Jan. 21. The policy said that officers would alert ICE if “a foreign-born individual is arrested and charged with a violent felony, domestic violence and/or driving under the influence.”
The updated Metro policy, posted to X on Friday, added burglary, theft, larceny, petit larceny and assault of a law enforcement officer to the list of charges that would trigger an ICE notification.
According to the policy, if a “foreign-born individual” is accused of any these crimes, Metro’s detention services division will notify ICE when the person is both booked and released.
The revision came after President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law on Wednesday. Under the new law, the Department of Homeland Security must detain immigrants who are unlawfully in the country and who have been arrested on suspicion of, charged with or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
“LVMPD has revised its policy in response to the recent passing of the Laken Riley Act, expanding the list of changes against foreign-born individuals that must be reported to ICE,” Metro’s X post on Friday said.
The law was named for Laken Riley, 22, a Georgia nursing student who was slain in February 2024. Jose Antonio Ibarra, who was found guilty of murder by a judge in November, had been arrested for entering the country illegally in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, then released to pursue his case in immigration court, the Associated Press reported.
What remained unchanged in Metro’s updated policy is the department’s stated role in enforcing immigration violations.
Like the former policy, the revised version states that although Nevada peace officers have the authority to assist in enforcing federal laws, Metro “will not enforce immigration violations.”
“Officers will not stop and question, detain, arrest, or place an immigration hold on any individuals on the grounds they are an undocumented immigrant,” the policy says.
The policy also says that Metro would share “criminal intelligence regarding transnational organized crime and international terrorism with any and all law enforcement agencies to include ICE.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com