A bill that proposes a state agency to help immigrants better adjust to American life brought two sides head to head — those who want a state more accommodating to immigrants and those who think that serving the undocumented is rewarding people who break laws.

The Nevada Independent’s analysis of documents obtained through a public records request shows that from January through mid-September 2018, there were 138 instances in which ICE requested either the Henderson or city of Las Vegas jail place an immigration hold on someone who was booked for no charges more serious than a traffic offense.

Local jails play a significant role in apprehending undocumented immigrants and transferring them to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings. Here's how the process works.

The need-based Nevada Promise Scholarship requires students to fill out the FAFSA and seek out federal aid before the state funds kick in. That can be daunting for undocumented students who don’t have a Social Security number and don’t want to reveal too much information to a federal government that also has the power to enforce immigration laws against them.

House Democrats passed a resolution last week chiding President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice for siding with a Texas judge who ruled the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. The House action came as the Senate Republicans voted to change the rules to speed the confirmation of the president’s nominees.

Democratic Assemblywoman Selena Torres is sponsoring AB376, which calls for reports from police agencies every year by Oct. 1. The report must detail how many undocumented people were transferred to the custody of a federal agency after being detained by a local agency that year and why, as well as what crimes those people were initially arrested for.

Senate Republicans dealt President Donald Trump a blow last week when they helped pass a resolution drafted by House Democrats blocking the president’s emergency declaration, which he used to reprogram previously appropriated funds for his border wall.

During a hearing in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Mo Denis and Assemblyman Edgar Flores discussed the details of SB229, a bill that seeks to ban an owner or operator of a hotel from divulging personal information about its guests “for any purpose relating to the enforcement of immigration laws.”

Nevada Labor Commissioner Shannon Chambers probably figured she’d get some pushback when meeting with under-served workers at the Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center on Tuesday night. But she was visibly unprepared for – and unhappy with – the chaos that ensued when she arrived.

A driving safety class, which was conducted in Spanish, lasted five hours and was attended by about 190 people at Bonanza High School, was organized by the Clark County School District Police Department (CCSDPD) Vulnerable Road Users, Nevada Driving School and Zero Fatalities.

Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada, an initiative of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV, has set a goal of documenting stories from a cross section of Latinos in the Silver State, where almost 900,000 Hispanics reside.

“President Trump cannot sidestep our Constitution for a political ploy,” Ford said in a statement. “The Trump Administration’s proposed diversion of funds would waste billions of dollars that is dedicated to supporting our military and law enforcement agencies.”

The trip comes days before the country faces another potential shutdown of the federal government as congressional Democrats continue to refuse to fulfill President Donald Trump’s demand for billions of additional dollars to fund a border wall.  

“When the sheriff goes out and we go out in the community, we constantly hear these stories that you know, we’ve got a family that now is separated because of a very small thing like a traffic warrant,” Callaway said. “And so I think the sheriff has listened to that and he’s taken that to heart.”

"While this Administration has attacked this population and the program that protects them, my office has filed this brief to show support for these 4,000 individuals who call Nevada home, and we will continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of our families," Ford said.

Immigration advocates joined by Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom took aim at Sheriff Joe Lombardo and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at a press conference Thursday over the use of a controversial immigration enforcement program, section 287(g).

In an inaugural State of the State address that touched on the economy, education, taxes and school security,  Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak also announced a smaller but notable initiative — the creation of a center in Las Vegas that will help the immigrant community better adjust to American life.

Nevada’s Latino voters could play a pivotal role in the outcome of Tuesday’s election, and underlying much of the engagement is anxiety that their situation in the U.S. has deteriorated over the past year. They have expressed having more interest in the 2018 elections compared to past midterms, and a record 29.1 million Hispanics are eligible to vote — an increase of 4 million since 2014.