Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Lombardo admin: Likely to oppose opening police jobs to noncitizens

2023 State of the Schools Address

Steve Marcus

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo speaks during the 2023 State of the Schools address at Resorts World Las Vegas, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023.

A proposal aimed at addressing personnel shortages among police departments in Nevada is poised to have an uphill battle, with Gov. Joe Lombardo signaling this week that he may be opposed to the proposal.

Assembly Bill 30 aims to remove the requirement that police officers must be a United States citizen, and would permit law enforcement agencies throughout Nevada to hire anyone legally authorized to work in the U.S.

The purpose of the bill is to address the “dire” need for cops after other recruiting methods failed to adequately remedy staffing shortages plaguing departments nationwide and would expand the hiring pool for new recruits significantly, said Jared Luke, Government Affairs and Economic Development Director for the city of North Las Vegas.

The city was responsible for submitting the draft to Carson City ahead of the Feb. 6 legislative session.

“We’re staring a crisis in the face when it comes to recruiting numbers for police departments,” Luke said. “It’s not just North Las Vegas or Nevada. It’s nationwide. All we’re attempting to do with A.B. 30 is to open up an additional pool of applicants that could be considered.”

If passed, more than 140,000 legal permanent residents in Nevada would be eligible for hire, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration. That’s in addition to the roughly 12,000 recipients of the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program residing in Nevada who would be eligible as well.

Luke pointed to neighboring states like California and Utah, which have adopted similar laws within the last year to address policing shortages of their own. Departments could still hire whomever they want, citizen or not, but the bill would simply enable departments to consider recruits who would otherwise be excluded, Luke added.

Elizabeth Ray, communications director for Lombardo, said the former Clark County Sheriff isn’t supportive of the proposal but that could change once he reads the bill.

“The United States military allows for legal permanent residents to serve in the military,” Luke said. “If the U.S. military sees that these folks are capable of enforcing the United States Constitution, then we believe that they are also capable of enforcing and policing the Nevada Constitution and policing the neighborhoods where they live. Hopefully they can improve the gap between policing and community relations.”

Whether the bill would pick up support in the legislature is currently uncertain, too. Leonel Villalobos, the executive director for the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus, said leadership in his conference also has yet to see the bill and deferred comment on it until it’s referred to a committee.

Metro Police, Nevada’s largest law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over Las Vegas and most of surrounding Clark County, wouldn’t say whether it supported the bill.

In a statement to the Sun, Metro’s Office of Public Information said it is “aware” of AB 30 and is “still reviewing the information on the proposal.”