Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, Athar Haseebullah, ACLU of Nevada executive director, and Sadmira Ramic, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Nevada. (Photo by Michael Lyle/Nevada Current)
As President Donald Trump aggressively escalates immigration enforcement across the country, Nevada legal groups are working to inform people of their rights when dealing with federal agents.
“No matter what your legal status is, whether you have documents, whether you’re here on a visa, no matter what your legal status is, you have the same rights as anyone else that lives in this country,” said Sadmira Ramic, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Nevada.
Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, the ACLU of Nevada, and the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada hosted an immigration town hall on Wednesday addressing how people should respond if they encounter immigration enforcement.
Attorneys gave basic guidance telling people to ask to see a warrant before opening a door and not to give fake documents, and also explained the legal conditions determining when immigration officers can and can’t enter a home or search a car without consent.
They also stressed the importance of not sharing unverified reports of immigration raids to prevent panic.
Trump began implementing his plan of mass deportation the moment he took office, creating fear and uncertainty among immigrant communities.
Among his executive actions, he has rescinded a 2011 policy prohibiting immigration enforcement in ‘sensitive’ places such as schools, churches, and hospitals, and issued a directive to the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute local officials who fail to assist with mass deportations.
Communities across the country are seeing increased — and increasingly publicized — enforcement, especially by the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement. Enforcement is expected to escalate up as Trump has increased quotas for the number of people detained per day.
Athar Haseebullah, the executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said based on the most recent reporting he has received, more than half of those that “have been stopped this past month have had no criminal legal system contact at all.”
Attorneys warned Wednesday night that it’s not just ICE officers. Agents with the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have also been tasked with immigration enforcement.
Know your rights
While going over an ACLU “Know Your Rights” handout, Ramic said people have basic rights, including the right to remain silent and ask for an attorney and the right to “refuse or not give consent to search yourself or your property,” including a car.
If an immigration agent “asks you to show documents, and you do have those documents, you are required to show them,” Ramic added. “However, in that instance you do not have to answer any other questions.”
People should not provide fake documents “under any circumstances,” she stressed.
If an immigration agent comes to a person’s house, Ramic said, if there is a person who has legal documents that person “should speak to them through the door.”
“You don’t have to open the door,” she said. “The first thing you should do is ask for them to identify themself and ask if they can provide any kind of identification.”
People should request to see a warrant and to make sure it is a judicial warrant before opening the door.
A judicial warrant, which is signed by a federal or state judge, is different from an administrative warrant, which comes from an immigration agency or another federal agency but is not signed by a federal or state judge.
“If they have a judicial warrant, they can enter your home without your consent,” Ramic said. “If they have an administrative warrant, they cannot enter your home without consent.”
Even if someone allows an officer with an administrative warrant to enter their home, “you have the right to revoke your consent at any time,” she said.
“It’s a disgrace”
Since Trump resumed office, Haseebullah has said the ACLU of Nevada has received non-stop calls and messages from communities targeted by various executive actions.
“People are really concerned,” he said in an interview following the town hall. “We’re getting calls that are both rooted in real information and misinformation.”
The ACLU is planning additional “know your rights” town halls around Trump’s various actions targeting immigrants, the trans community, and other marginalized groups.
As immigration enforcement has increased nationwide, Haseebullah said in Nevada enforcement has been restricted to people who “have received a final removal order.”
“From my understanding and the information I’ve received, the requirement is to bring in others that are encountered along the way who may be undocumented as well,” he said.
Though some of Trump’s executive orders targeting immigration will likely face legal challenges, on Wednesday he signed the Laken Riley Act, which drastically expanded the parameters for who could be detained and deported.
The legislation mandates undocumented immigrants who are arrested or charged with nonviolent crimes like shoplifting, theft and larceny to be detained even if there isn’t a conviction.
Immigration attorneys nationwide have warned that some immigrants with legal status could be harmed as well.
The bill was named after a 22-year-old student who was killed by a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela who is undocumented.
The entire Nevada Democratic delegation voted in favor of the bill despite significant warnings from state immigration groups, civil rights attorneys and legal experts that it would violate people’s due process protections and aid Trump’s efforts around mass deportation.
Haseebullah said the Laken Riley Act is “one of the most destructive pieces of legislation that’s ever been brought forth by Congress.”
“It’s a disgrace for anybody who voted for it,” he said. “What it does is require mandatory detention for anyone even arrested for shoplifting with no statute of limitations, no right to a trial, no right to even receive charges.”
ICE in schools
Clark County School District Vice Chair Brenda Zamora briefly spoke at the town hall to address concerns around ICE coming into schools.
The school board adopted a resolution in 2017 to ensure students are protected regardless of immigration status.
“Even though President Trump reversed a policy that stopped immigration officers from arresting people in sensitive places like schools, churches and hospitals, that does not mean that ICE can enter a school anytime they want,” Zamora said.
“The district will not share students’ immigration information unless the court orders it. School police will not assist ICE unless required by a court order,” Zamora added.
Last week, the school district sent an email to staff telling them to contact school police in the event “any law enforcement officer or government agent” appears at a school. CCSD police “are not responsible for and do not enforce federal civil immigration laws,” the email said.
Zamora said the district is in the process of making changes to the 2017 resolution, which will be discussed at upcoming board meetings.
“Our goal is to ensure that students feel comfortable and secure while attending school, no matter their background,” she said.