Las Vegas-based immigration attorney Kathia Pereira answers questions about the latest policy developments, including the economic stimulus aid packages and domestic violence measures.

In Las Vegas, Velasquez found work cleaning peoples’ homes — until the coronavirus outbreak. She stopped working in mid-March out of concerns for her own health and those of the families whose homes she cleans. Her husband, a construction worker, hasn’t been able to work since mid-February because of a work-related injury.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule within the next few weeks and as early as Monday on the legality of the Obama-era program, and hosts of the town hall were pessimistic that the conservative-majority high court would rule favorably for beneficiaries.

The motion for a temporary restraining order was filed in federal court in Nevada on Tuesday. It raises concerns similar to those the ACLU expressed last week about the risk of coronavirus transmission in Nevada prisons and jails.

After several attorneys, law and interest groups sent a letter to officials of the ICE Salt Lake City field office on Tuesday urging the agency to suspend field operations and release non-mandatory detainees, ICE announced on Wednesday that it would delay enforcement for “those who are not public safety risks.” The federal agency has not addressed whether it will implement alternatives to detention for non-mandatory detainees and for those who are considered to be high health risks to COVID-19.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it is implementing a rule allowing the federal government to deny entry or legal status to an immigrant if officials deem the applicant is “likely at any time to become a public charge” — a move that has prompted questions from Nevada immigrants about whether they should withdraw their children from government food and health care programs.

After about 10 minutes of questions from the governor on whether the company would be working with ICE and whether approving the contract would run afoul of legislation banning private prison companies from providing core correctional services in Nevada, the board voted to approve the agreement. Ford said he was satisfied with the answers he got that the centers would advance criminal justice reform.

The suit comes after Lombardo announced in October that his agency would stop participating in the so-called “287(g)” jail-based partnership with ICE, and honoring holds, following a federal court in California’s ruling on the issue. Adame-Reyes’ lawyers said they worry that Lombardo could go back on his word, based on what they described as a begrudging promise to end the agreement. 

Immigrant rights activists are filing a lawsuit against the the City of Las Vegas over its policies of keeping people behind bars for extra time solely on suspicion that they may be in the country illegally. 

Cortez Masto and Rosen also pointed to other issues within the private detention center, including the death of an inmate who was apparently strangled by another inmate and the on-site suicide of an employee. They are asking for an investigation into matters including employee screening and how closely the Pahrump site is monitored for compliance to the terms of its federal contract.

According to officials from Reno, the city’s letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo consenting to refugee transfers falls in line with the values and policies of the city and “is simply a renewal of what Reno has been doing for years.”

Her family’s own challenges adjusting to American life as immigrants has informed a career that included working as an asylum officer, serving the children of migrant farmworkers as an Americorps volunteer and becoming an immigration attorney for the refugee-focused Church World Service. Ozobia is now settling in to her latest role on that trajectory — directing Nevada’s Office for New Americans.

Trump said his executive order in September was to ensure that only communities that are eager and equipped to welcome refugees, and can usher them toward self-sufficiency, receive refugees.

Martinez Manon was detained by ICE outside his Las Vegas home while getting ready to leave for his job as a construction worker in mid-November. He does not appear to have a criminal record but ICE said he does have a previous deportation from 2008.

The federal law and criteria regarding TPS requires that an administration review a country’s conditions, to ensure a safe return for those who would be affected, prior to the termination of the protection status. Ramos v. Nielsen alleges that the Trump Administration changed that policy to no longer consider safe country conditions.

Martinez Manon, 52, was detained by ICE outside his Las Vegas home while getting ready to leave for his job as a construction worker on Thursday morning. Martinez Manon does not appear to have a criminal record, though ICE officials say he has been deported once before, in 2008.

Gov. Steve Sisolak, Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro did not respond to questions about whether they are open to the idea of convening lawmakers a year before their regularly scheduled 120-day session to work on the matter. But Democratic Sen. Yvanna Cancela, who has introduced legislation on the 287(g) topic in the past, called the push divisive and noted voters “rejected this brand of politics in 2018.”

The fate of thousands of Nevadans and hundreds of thousands of people around the nation hung in the balance Tuesday when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether President Donald Trump can terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.