A triumphant return in 2024 after the pundits said it was over. A big victory in Michigan. People wondering, “Can he even do that?”

No, I’m not talking about Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders’ miraculous NFC Championship Game run. (I would love to talk about that. Someone please email me to talk about that.)

I’m talking about Week One of Trump 2.0, in which the returning president signed more than 40 executive orders (many of which are likely or are already being challenged in court) that could have an enormous impact on Nevada. Many of the orders are intentionally vague, but they’ve certainly spooked many of the Democrats in Nevada’s congressional delegation.

Let’s get into it. 

Like last week, instead of breaking out a Nevada Angle, I’m going to highlight a few executive orders and discuss what they might mean for Nevada.

ICE raids

Amid a bevy of orders on immigration, Trump authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct raids in schools, courthouses and places of worship — which had been off limits since 2011. He also expanded the “expedited removal” policy, which allows federal officials to deport migrants at the border without a documented asylum claim before they get a hearing with an immigration judge, to include anyone in the U.S. who cannot prove that they have been in the country for more than two years. And his Justice Department has instructed federal prosecutors to go after local officials who do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

Taken together, it’s a clear expansion of the federal government’s power to detain and deport undocumented immigrants — an effort that would have massive economic and personal implications in Nevada, which has the highest percentage of unauthorized workers in the country. 

Las Vegas is neither a sanctuary city nor has any active anti-sanctuary policies on the books — much of how a mass deportation campaign plays out remains to be seen. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the department’s policy will not be to enforce immigration law, but rather to notify ICE if a foreign-born individual is charged with certain crimes, including driving under the influence, domestic violence or a violent felony.

Migrant roundups, McMahill told 8 News Now, are “not my job.”

Would that put Metro in the crosshairs of the Justice Department’s policy to prosecute non-compliant local entities? Members of the federal delegation are unsure.

“From what I've seen from the statement out of the police department, that would be one of those departments subjected to that [policy],” Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) said. “I can’t speak for them.”

And Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) said the net effect of Trump’s executive orders so far is chilling.

“What he wants to do — not just at the border, to shut it down completely — but [to] come into the interior, come into our communities, and deport whomever they think falls under this broad category, including U.S. citizens,” Cortez Masto said. “It is causing fear in our communities, rightfully so, and it’s outrageous from my perspective — and for our businesses.”

While the fallout from the executive orders is still taking shape, Democrats are navigating their own political response on immigration as well. All six Nevadans in Congress voted for the Laken Riley Act, which would mandate the detention of undocumented immigrants for nonviolent crimes — and will be the first big bill signing for Trump, a sign of how Democrats are not as unified on their immigration messaging as they once were.

Lee said her first principles regarding immigration are that the border needs to be secured, migrants who commit crimes should be deported, but that the immigration system is broken — and that the immigrant workforce is vital. 

“We should be figuring out a constructive way to refine and implement and enforce our laws,” Lee said. “This is not doing that.”

Birthright citizenship

This was the big one that got all the headlines — and the least likely to take effect. After talking about it during his first presidency, Trump signed an executive order Monday asserting that children born in the United States to parents who do not have legal status, or have temporary legal status, are not U.S. citizens. The order would apply to all such children born after Feb. 19 — including babies born in Nevada to parents on work or student visas.

That interpretation flies in the face of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, according to the vast majority of legal scholars, and a landmark Supreme Court case affirming birthright citizenship since the 1890s.

The order was immediately met with condemnation from Nevada Democrats and challenged in court by a group of Democratic attorneys general, including Nevada’s Aaron Ford. And by Thursday, a federal judge (and Reagan appointee) had already ruled in favor of the challengers, calling the order “blatantly unconstitutional” and blocking the Trump administration from implementing the policy for the next 14 days as the case continues to work its way through the courts.

Pause on Biden-era spending

In a Monday executive order, Trump ordered agencies to pause the disbursement of funds allocated through the Biden-era Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

What exactly does that mean? Agencies are still parsing; he issued follow-up guidance the next day saying the order only applies to funds that go toward stymying energy production on federal lands or boosting electric vehicle production.

As I detailed at the beginning of the year, much of the big-ticket funding for Nevada through those laws has already been obligated; any effort by the Trump administration to stop reimbursing state agencies or other recipients would likely be met in court as an act of impoundment.

But that doesn’t mean beneficiaries — and lawmakers — aren’t concerned. 

“It’s going to hurt Nevadans at the end of the day — and our businesses,” Cortez Masto said.

Around the Capitol

✔️CCM on ENR nominees: Mixed bag — Cortez Masto voted for one of the two of Trump’s nominees who came before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She was a “yes” on Interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum — a Cabinet member that Nevada senators like to have a good relationship with in any administration, given how much land in Nevada they control.

But she was a “no” on Energy secretary nominee Chris Wright, saying he did not answer as to whether or not he would protect Nevada programs from energy funding cuts. She did, however, secure his commitment in writing to not support efforts to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

⌨️Cyber time — Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) has been named ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, a recognition of the seniority she’s accrued on the panel and her expertise on the issue. Rosen, the only former computer programmer in the Senate, has a reputation among her peers of being knowledgeable on technology-related issues and has made cybersecurity policy a tentpole of her Armed Services work.

✈️Trump en route — In his first trip since taking office Monday, Trump is headed to Nevada, after spending Friday in North Carolina and California touring disaster damage.

Trump, who is speaking in Las Vegas at 12:30 Saturday, is coming to the Circa to rally with supporters. He won the state by 3 percentage points — a fact I’m sure he’ll mention.

What I’m Reading

Axios: Republican Amodei defends IRA’s mining benefit

Not so easy to be the one doing the cutting.

The Nevada Independent: Trump granted clemency to 8 Nevadans for Jan. 6 crimes. Who are they and what did they do?

One was serving a six-year sentence in federal prison in Kansas. 

The New York Times: Nevada’s lithium could help save the Earth. But what happens to Nevada?

The lithium loop gets the NYT mag treatment.

Notable and Quotable

“We’re talking with the company, talking with the agency under the Trump administration, to go, ‘what are we doing? Why are we doing it?’”

— Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), to Axios, on his plan if any proposed budget cuts or Trump policies affect Nevada companies

Vote of the Week

PN11-19 — On the Nomination: Confirmation: John Ratcliffe to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency

The rare instance — this time Trump’s CIA pick — where Cortez Masto and Rosen split.

CORTEZ MASTO: No

ROSEN: Yes