Cortez Masto, Las Vegas Community Leaders Call for Guardrails on ICE Abuses of Power

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Las Vegas, Nev. - Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) hosted a press conference with local community leaders to discuss her vote against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill. Despite broad public support for commonsense reforms, Republicans have been unwilling to include guardrails to curtail Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) abuses of power.

"Nevadans and America as a whole have made it clear they want accountability and transparency on the Trump Administration's immigration enforcement efforts," said Senator Cortez Masto. "What we're seeing here in Las Vegas and in communities across the country is unacceptable. It's not radical to ask for commonsense guardrails - it's what's required before another cent goes ICE or CBP."

Cortez Masto was joined by Malú Elizondo, Nevada State Director for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); Rae Lathrop, Board Member for Nevadans for the Common Good; Margarita Romano, LCSW Clinical Director and CEO for Fuente de Vida; and Diana Valles, President of Culinary Workers Union Local 226. These organizations representing a large swath of Las Vegas shared how communities have been impacted by President Trump's cruel immigration agenda, including fewer people participating in their local economies by going into work or shopping at small businesses. Additionally, due to the Administration's continued enforcement actions at sensitive locations, there has been a decrease in school and church attendance and a continued mental health crisis.

In order to end the current DHS shutdown and support a future funding bill, Cortez Masto has worked with Senate Democrats to ask for the following commonsense guardrails:

1. Targeted Enforcement - DHS officers cannot enter your home or business without a judicial warrant. End indiscriminate arrests and improve warrant procedures and standards. Require verification that a person is not a U.S. citizen before holding them in immigration detention.
2. Protect Sensitive Locations - Prohibit funds from being used to conduct enforcement near sensitive locations, including: medical facilities, schools, child-care facilities, churches, courts, polling places, etc.
3. Stop Racial Profiling - Prohibit DHS officers from conducting stops, questioning and searches based on an individual's presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race, ethnicity, etc.
4. Uphold Use of Force Standards - Place into law a reasonable, use of force policy, expand training and require certification of officers. In the case of an incident, the individual gets removed from the field until an investigation is conducted.
5. Ensure State and Local Coordination and Oversight - Preserve State and local jurisdictions' ability to investigate and prosecute potential crimes and excessive use of force incidents; require that evidence is preserved and shared with jurisdictions. Require the consent of States and localities to conduct large-scale operations outside of targeted enforcement.
6. Build Safeguards into the System - Make clear that all buildings where people are detained must abide by the same basic detention standards that require immediate access to a person's attorney to prevent citizen arrests or detention. Allow states to sue DHS for violations of all requirements. Prohibit limitations on Member visits to ICE facilities regardless of how those facilities are funded.
7. Require ID - Require DHS officers conducting immigration enforcement to display their agency, a unique ID number, and last name; require them to verbalize their ID number and last name if asked.
8. No Masks - Prohibit wearing face coverings except in limited situations.
9. Body Cameras for Accountability, Not Tracking - Require use of body worn cameras when interacting with the public and mandate requirements for the storage and access of footage. Prohibit tracking, creating, or maintaining databases of individuals participating in First Amendment activities.
10. No Paramilitary Police - Regulate and standardize the type of uniforms and equipment DHS officers carry during enforcement operations to bring in line with civil enforcement.

As the former top law enforcement official in Nevada, Senator Cortez Masto has prioritized protecting communities across the state. In January, Cortez Masto introduced the PUBLIC SAFETY Act to redirect almost $75 billion in funding passed in the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act from ICE and send it instead to local law enforcement programs to help hire and train 200,000 local cops in communities across the U.S. She has also consistently supported common sense border security measures that keep our communities safe and treat immigrant families with dignity.

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