The number of Mountain West law-enforcement agencies that have agreed to collaborate with the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts has risen significantly since January. Signed agreements, known as 287(g), rose from 10 to 54 in seven Mountain West states.
In a recent visit to Las Vegas, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who oversees ICE, said the agreements help the federal government enforce immigration laws by working with local officers.
“I think so many law enforcement officers across the country are just grateful that they finally get to do their jobs,” Noem told the Mountain West News Bureau. “We’ll continue to do our job and make sure that we’re enforcing our law.”
Aggressive immigration enforcement across the country has stoked fears in many immigrant communities.
During a September Grito ceremony – a “fiestas patrias,” or patriotic festival, commemorating Mexico’s independence from Spain – in Las Vegas, pride was evident.
“People are very enthusiastic about them, and are always very happy to celebrate their Mexican origin and what that means to the community,” said Patricia Cortez, lead consul with the Mexican Consulate in the city.
But elsewhere such events were canceled with organizers citing fears over crackdowns.
Heightening concerns for many are the dozens of local law enforcement agencies that have signed 287(g) agreements, including the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
“A 287(g) agreement is a contract between the federal government and a local entity stating that this local entity will engage in a certain level of immigration enforcement,” said Sadmira Ramich, senior staff attorney, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada.
A Mountain West News Bureau analysis found agencies across our region – including Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming — saw significant increases in 287(g) agreements. Across the country, more than 1,000 287(g) agreements have been signed with ICE, up from 135 before President Trump’s inauguration.
Active 287(g) agreements with law-enforcement agencies in Mountain West states:
- Arizona, 11
- Idaho, 10
- Nevada, 5
- New Mexico, 1
- Utah, 16
- Wyoming, 11
Only Colorado has bucked the trend. State law there have prevented agencies from collaborating with federal officials. It has even led to a court battle that stopped one Teller County sheriff from acting on an agreement.
Some 287(g) agreements train local officers to act as federally deputized agents. Others bring local departments into task forces. And some,, including the agreement with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, involve jail-based “ICE holds.”
One of these ICE holds led the ACLU in Nevada to file a lawsuit alleging the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department wrongfully detained Sergio Morales-Echevarria, a Cuban immigrant accused of auto theft. The ACLU says the department defied a court order.
“A Nevada District Court judge ordered him to be transported to in-patient treatment,” Ramich told a judge, but Morales-Echevarria was never transported out of the Clark County Detention Center for treatment.
Instead, Ramich said, Morales-Echevarria was released into ICE custody.
RamichShe argues that Morales-Echevarria was denied due process.
“This ICE hold, this doesn't come from any judge,” Ramich said. “It's not coming from any judiciary whatsoever. It's just coming from an ICE official.”
Days before Morales-Echevarria was to appear in court, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill appeared at a joint news conference with the FBI. Both agencies discussed how their joint efforts have led to a significant decrease in crime.
“The relationship that we have between our federal partners and local law enforcement in southern Nevada are second to none,” McMahill said.
Asked about the ACLU case, the sheriff’s response was brief.
“I will tell you that the individual that they [the ACLU] are suing us over is no longer in custody of the Clark County Detention Center,” McMahill said.
He did not offer any more specifics about the case, but added: “ICE is picking up people from the Clark County Detention Center today, on a daily basis.”
The department’s agreement with ICE, McMahill said, is focused on immigrants in the jail accused of serious felonies and other crimes, he said. McMahill referred to violent crimes and crimes that fall under the Laken Riley Act and other laws.
“If they're foreign born and they're arrested for one of those offenses into my jail, we make an ICE notification,” McMahill said. “Subsequent to an individual being released from the jail, we also make an ICE notification. And, a judicial warrant can be served by ICE to hold an individual for up to 48 hours.”
In a statement to the Mountain West News Bureau, the department underscored that its officers do not specifically enforce immigration violations.
“There has been no change to our policy since February of 2025,” the department said in the statement. “We will update our policy to reflect any changes introduced by our 287(g) WSO agreement once we have instituted the agreement at The Clark County Detention Center (CCDC) that we oversee and operate. CCDC is the only branch of LVMPD that will be affected by the 287(g) agreement.”
The ACLU’s lawsuit also argues that the department should not be allowed to participate in 287g because the state functions under Dillon's Rule, which the ACLU claims would prohibit the local police department from entering into 287g agreements.
“In Nevada we have a law which prohibits civil arrests, which, in this case, these are civil immigration detainees,” Ramich said.
That’s why the ACLU has taken up Morales-Echevarria’s case.
In November, Alex Fugazzi, an attorney with the Snell & Wilmer firm, who is representing Las Vegas police, told the court that the department’s 287g agreement was not technically in effect when Morales-Echevarria was detained.
“What I’m telling you today, your honor, is that the credentials have not been given to metropolitan police officers yet,” he told the court.
The 287g agreement was signed in June, and Morales-Ehevarria was detained in August, but Fugazzi said the program had not yet been credentialed.
Fugazzi said Morales-Echevarria was detained under other policies.
“Qualified foreign born individuals who are arrested and charged with a specific subset of crimes,” he said, “should be considered as processed under a foreign born policy."
The ACLU accused Fugazzi of using legal tactics, of splitting hairs.
“And they are using that to argue that the court should not get to this point,” said Ramich, noting that Morales-Echevarria was not able to be present in court proceedings because he had been deported.
Ramich told the judge there’s a greater issue at stake.
“This is about the liberty of hundreds of people that will be held pursuant to this agreement.”
The ACLU said it has tracked hundreds of ICE holds at the Clark County jail. The police department declined requests to confirm numbers.
Some experts, like University of Nevada Las Vegas Law Professor Michael Kagan, are concerned about the proliferation of 287g agreements and what they mean for defendants.
“Almost all immigration enforcement is just not a criminal matter,” Kagan said. “It is a civil, administrative matter. It's just not a matter of crime. That's just a fact about American immigration law.”
Kagan said handing detainees over to ICE can deny them the opportunity to defend themselves in court. He adds that 287(g) agreements can tie up local officers in federal work.
“ICE loves to get local governments to basically lend their resources to the federal government to do the federal government's job,” he said. “And, that's really what the 287(g) program is, and that is a force multiplier, often at the cost to local taxpayers.”
During Noem’s visit to Las Vegas, she responded when asked if there would be raids.
“We will continue to be here,” Noem said. “It will be sustained and at times and it will surge based on the threats that we see.”
Some consulates, like the Mexican consulate in Las Vegas, have begun providing information at detention centers about “consular notifications,” for Mexican citizens, should they be detained by law enforcement.
Consular notifications “let us know that they are there” so that we can help them,” said Cortez.
As for Sergio Morales-Echevarria, he could not be reached for this story. The ACLU says the Cuban immigrant was deported to Mexico.
Yet the court battle emanating from his situation continues. The next court date is scheduled for January.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has appropriated $75 billion to arrest and deport “unauthorized immigrants,” according to the Brennan Center. Some of those funds are expected to go toward hiring 10,000 more ICE officers and to fund more federal detention facilities.
Data visualizations by Murphy Woodhouse / Mountain West News Bureau
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Nevada Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
