The Nevada Immigrant Coalition is advocating for three significant changes. First, legislation to prohibit local law enforcement officers and Nevada National Guard members from wearing masks when interacting with the public.
The coalition also wants to stop immigrant enforcement officials from entering certain areas without a warrant, including daycares, schools, hospitals, and places of worship. The governor vetoed a bill earlier this year to protect just public schools.
Additionally, the coalition is calling for restricting the state from collecting and sharing data solely for immigration enforcement. The ACLU of Nevada’s lawsuit against the DMV over allegedly failing to fully release documents related to its cooperation with ICE is still pending.
Coalition coordinator Noé Orosco said these actions can’t wait for the regular session in 2027.
“The governor alluded to it a little bit, if not more explicitly, in his proclamation. Whenever a special session is called, it is because it’s a matter of an emergency. And we, the Nevada Immigrant Coalition, believe wholeheartedly that our community members being kidnapped from the streets is a crisis and it is something that urgently needs to be addressed,” Orosco said.
A source familiar with the topic told KUNR that outgoing Democratic Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager has already rejected taking up these issues during the special session. His spokesperson, caucus executive director Liz Luna, did not respond to multiple texts for comment and walked away from reporters in Carson City after explaining they do not have enough staff to allow for virtual testimony on Assembly bills.
“I told you all that I was going to give you only two comments,” Luna told KUNR.
There is currently one resolution, which doesn’t require the governor’s signature for approval, directing the legislature to conduct a mere study on immigration enforcement activities. Orosco said that doesn’t go far enough.
“There are a lot of students that are afraid that if they go to school, either they themselves will get picked up because of their status, or one of their parents or guardians will get picked up on the way of being dropped off, but then there’s also the fear, that they’ll come home to an empty home because their parents or their guardian was picked up,” Orosco said. “So, to say that they want to do a study to assess the impacts of immigration in Nevada, it’s just not satisfactory to the coalition.”
The ACLU of Nevada also sent a letter to the legislature, which was shared with KUNR, urging them to add an amendment to the governor’s crime bill to investigate individuals acting as law enforcement who detain, remove, or restrain people, and are unidentifiable due to a mask or lack of visible identification. The proposal was not included in the legislation.
