What’s Happening
Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley made it clear on Thursday: Las Vegas follows federal immigration laws. Her statement came just one day after House Republicans questioned four Democratic mayors about not helping federal immigration officials do their jobs.
“The city of Las Vegas is not a sanctuary city,” Berkley said during a press conference. “We follow federal law, and we will do everything that we are supposed to under the law in order to comply with it.”
This matters because President Trump’s executive order from January 20 called for cutting off federal money to cities that don’t cooperate with immigration enforcement.
Why This Matters to Conservatives
For years, conservatives have pushed for stronger enforcement of our immigration laws. When cities refuse to work with federal authorities, it creates a patchwork system where the law means different things in different places.
Limited government doesn’t mean no government – it means government should stick to its core jobs. Protecting our borders is one of those basic duties that the Constitution gives to the federal government.
When sanctuary cities shield people who broke the law to enter our country, they’re not just ignoring federal law – they’re making it harder for the rest of America to have a working immigration system.
What Congress Is Doing
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform didn’t hold back when they met with mayors from Chicago, Denver, New York City, and Boston this week.
The committee said these cities have “reckless policies” that stop their officials from sharing information about criminal illegal immigrants with the federal government.
Republican lawmakers want to look at how these cities get federal funding. They believe mayors who don’t follow federal immigration laws should be held accountable.
How Las Vegas Handles Immigration
Las Vegas takes a different approach than sanctuary cities. They work with immigration officials in a limited way.
The Clark County Detention Center follows the Laken Riley Act, which became law this year. If someone who is in the country illegally gets arrested for a violent crime, drunk driving, domestic violence, or theft-related crimes, the jail reports them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Mayor Berkley explained: ”
We have a responsibility, if someone comes into the municipal jail, to notify ICE, and then it’s their responsibility to take it from there.”
This shows a balanced approach. The city isn’t doing ICE’s job for them by conducting raids or other immigration enforcement in the community. But they’re not actively blocking federal officials from doing their work either.
A Middle Ground Approach
Mayor Berkley showed that you can be compassionate while still upholding the law.
“I have tremendous sympathy for people that are seeking a better life and a new life, and opportunities for their family,” she said, mentioning that her own grandparents escaped the Holocaust by coming to America.
But she quickly added:
“However, we don’t want — we cannot have — an open border. Obviously, that creates all sorts of challenges for our nation and for our community.”
What This Means for the Future
As the debate over immigration continues, Las Vegas offers a model that conservatives might support. They’re not taking over federal responsibilities, but they’re not getting in the way either.
This middle path respects both the rule of law and the proper limits of local government. It shows how cities can work within the system rather than against it.
The immigration debate isn’t going away, but with more cities taking Las Vegas’s approach, we might finally see progress toward a system that works for everyone while respecting the rule of law.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
