Most Nevada ICE arrests don’t happen in raids. Here’s where they do take place. – Carson Now

Nevada Politics and Government

Most Nevada ICE arrests don’t happen in raids. Here’s where they do take place.

Transfers of people already in a prison or local jail make up the lion’s share of ICE’s arrest count. It could explain the big push for 287(g) agreements.

By Isabella Aldrete, The Nevada Independent Thursday, January 15, 2026 – 5:00pm

This story has been translated to Spanish. You can read it here.

More than 70 percent of U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) arrests in Nevada in 2025 happened in detention facilities, such as county jails, federal facilities and state prisons, rather than through raids or other activities ICE initiates in the community, according to a new analysis from the left-leaning think tank the Prison Policy Initiative.

The think tank found that of the 2,376 known arrests by ICE between Jan. 20 and Oct. 15, 1,732 people were arrested in detention facilities. In comparison, 554 of those arrests happened in the community, such as in workplaces, courts or homes, the Prison Policy Initiative analysis found. 

The data, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request and processed by the Deportation Data Project at University of California Berkeley, provides further insight into the mechanics of immigration enforcement in Nevada and shows how significant state and local cooperation is to ICE’s overall work. It comes against the backdrop of a long-running debate in the Legislature about whether it’s appropriate to use state and local resources for immigration enforcement, or whether that should be entirely a federal responsibility. 

The most recent ICE data also no longer distinguishes between arrests through the local, state and federal levels for noncitizens who are incarcerated, making it harder to pinpoint where transfer of inmates is happening. 

ICE, which has dramatically increased arrests during the Trump administration but still fallen short of lofty targets in the region that includes Nevada, did not immediately respond to comment on whether it plans to boost enforcement outside of jails. 

The Prison Policy Initiative found that local jails are an “essential part” of ICE’s detention network in Nevada. Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson for the group, told The Indy that it can be logistically easier for ICE to arrest people in jails than to go out into the community, which requires more manpower and resources. Local and state jails, meanwhile, often have policies to proactively inform ICE about detained noncitizens. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) have such policies in place. 

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Most Nevada ICE arrests don’t happen in raids. Here’s where they do take place. – Carson Now