As Nevada tries to shake a “sanctuary” label given by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office has provided the agency with a detailed “immigration policy timeline” making the case that the state has been trying to align itself with President Donald Trump’s hard-line approach to immigration enforcement for years before the label was imposed.

The 10-page timeline, shared exclusively with The Nevada Independent, reveals a variety of previously unreported actions taken by the Lombardo administration to crack down on people in the state illegally. It indicates that in February, Lombardo met with the Nevada Sheriffs’ and Chiefs’ Association to “ensure compliance with President Trump’s immigration directives,” and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department rejoined a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), known as 287(g), following discussions with the governor this June. 

Lombardo is also in the process of finalizing an agreement with the DOJ in response to Nevada being labeled a “sanctuary state,” according to members of his staff, although they did not provide additional details, such as what commitments the state might be making or whether the agreement would remove the state from the sanctuary list. 

He also says he ordered the state’s Office for New Americans (ONA) to cut ties with several organizations that help undocumented people.

But perhaps one of the biggest revelations is that the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) — part of the state’s executive branch — now releases 100 percent of ICE detainees to federal authorities. Prior to the start of Trump’s term, ICE picked up less than 20 percent of those individuals, per the timeline. In March, NDOC released a memo that said it “screens all new offenders for citizenship status during intake” and “shares information on foreign-born or suspected non-citizens with ICE,” per the timeline, although it's unclear when the policy was implemented. 

According to the most recent NDOC statistical report, 902 individuals out of the system’s total 10,883 “offenders” were not U.S. citizens. The legal status of about 162 people was unknown. 

Lombardo’s correspondence with the DOJ comes in the midst of an increasingly fraught immigration landscape, especially in Nevada, which has one of the highest shares of undocumented people in the nation. In Trump’s first six months in office, immigration arrests in Nevada increased by nearly 300 percent from the same time frame last year, and several Latino-owned businesses have shuttered. 

Since Trump has stepped back into office, several police departments have also joined 287(g) partnerships with ICE, a move that has prompted backlash from progressive groups and members of the state’s Latino community. 

The DOJ has remained largely uncommunicative about what led to the state’s sanctuary designation even as collaboration on immigration enforcement has expanded.

Shortly after the department released the list of jurisdictions hit with the “sanctuary” label earlier this month, Lombardo posted on X that “the state has repeatedly reached out to the Department of Justice for clarification on its designation and looks forward to their timely response, so the state can ensure future cooperation between Nevada and the administration.” The timeline highlights the governor’s attempts to reach the DOJ. 

The stakes of such a label could be high. An April executive order said that executive agencies should "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."

Additional pressure was applied this week after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she sent letters to more than 30 jurisdictions this week, such as Boston and California, demanding that they drop “sanctuary policies” by Aug. 19 or have their leaders face prosecution. The DOJ would not comment on Nevada's status.

Representatives from the City of Las Vegas said they had not received any letter as of this week. In June, the city landed on a now-removed Department of Homeland Security list of “sanctuary cities.”

“You better be abiding by our federal policies and with our federal law enforcement, because if you’re not, we’re going to come after you,” Bondi said on Aug. 14, speaking to a Fox News reporter. “Our leaders have to support our law enforcement.”

Office for New Americans

The timeline provides additional insight into the position of several executive agencies, including the ONA, which some have speculated could be the reason behind the sanctuary label given the DOJ lists having “Immigrant Community Affairs Offices” as a qualifying characteristic.

Created in 2019 under former Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, the office is intended to help integrate “new and aspiring Americans,” but Lombardo has made efforts to limit services to undocumented people since the start of his term, according to the timeline. 

Relative to other state offices, it has remained small, with four full-time staff members, and manages a handful of initiatives, such as supporting the development of language access plans across state government, per a legislative budget presentation. Since the sanctuary listing, the office has also taken down a column on its website for “legal resources” to help immigrants and a tab announcing future meetings.

In a development that has not been previously reported, Lombardo in 2023 required the state’s Office for New Americans to “terminate problematic political partnerships” with programs that provided legal assistance referrals to undocumented individuals, according to the governor’s timeline. In addition, it ended constituent services for immigrant populations with unemployment and alien status issues. 

A September 2023 memo cited in the timeline also said “the Office for New Americans has realigned its mission to reflect the values of the Governor’s Administration — values rooted in accountability, personal responsibility, and service to those who come here ready to contribute. As part of this shift, the Office has formally withdrawn from politically motivated national and local networks that do not align with this focused, results-driven approach.”

The agencies listed in the timeline include the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday, and UndocuNetwork at UNLV, which provides support for undocumented students.

Local police involvement 

Just three days after Nevada was hit with the sanctuary label, Lombardo authorized the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to use a nearly $900,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security for “supporting border crisis response and enforcement.”

This follows a new requirement this year that states spend at least 10 percent of funding secured through their state’s Homeland Security Grant program on the border crisis. 

The timeline also mentions that Lombardo met with the Nevada Sheriffs’ and Chiefs’ Association (NvSCA) in February after members reached out asking for guidance on how to engage with ICE’s 287(g) program, with Lombardo indicating his support for any engagement local law enforcement agencies could manage.

However, such programs have proven costly to state governments. Because sheriffs needed flexibility in how they engaged “it was left to each individual jurisdiction” to draft its policy regarding the 287(g) program based on available resources, according to the timeline. 

State politics

In the timeline, Lombardo also called out Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford — his opponent in the 2026 gubernatorial race — for Ford’s release of model immigration policies, which has become an increasingly prominent attack from Ford’s conservative opponents. 

Those policies, which the timeline notes are non-binding and required by the Legislature, provide guidelines on what state agencies should do in encounters with federal immigration officials. The guidelines have sparked a back-and-forth debate between Ford and Lombardo, who has suggested it is part of an effort from the attorney general to transform Nevada into a sanctuary state. 

Ford has adamantly denied wanting to transform Nevada into a sanctuary, writing in a prior statement that, “I don’t support policies that provide sanctuary to criminals. If you’re convicted of a violent crime and you’re a threat to our community, you should be held fully accountable — and yes, that can mean deportation.” 

In the timeline, Lombardo mentioned that his office immediately initiated a review of the policies following their release and "identified concerning language, which indicated that state or local law enforcement should not support immigration enforcement activities.” It also highlighted a lawsuit Ford signed onto in May against the Trump administration for attempting to withhold federal funding for emergency services if they fail to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.