Nevada plans to use FEMA funding to upgrade Washoe County Jail for ICE

By April Corbin Girnus

Nevada Current

The State of Nevada plans to satisfy a new federal requirement to fund border security by upgrading detention facilities at the Washoe County Jail to include dedicated holding cells and office space for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency this year added a new requirement that states spend at least 10 percent of funding secured through their State Homeland Security Grant program on “border crisis response and enforcement.” Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the Washoe County Jail, was the only agency to seek money for immigration enforcement, according to the Nevada Resilience Advisory Committee, a public body that on Wednesday reviewed the applications and ranked the competitive applications.

Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, whose jurisdiction is unincorporated parts of the county, requested approximately $430,000 to remodel its detention facility. The remodel will include “a screening desk, secure holding area, and office space” for ICE.

The co-location of ICE in the local law enforcement facility will lead to “streamlined information-sharing and real-time communication” between the agency and local law enforcement and “accelerated processing of detainees,” according to its application.

The application does not detail how overall capacity at the facility would change with the project.

A spokesperson for the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office declined to provide additional details or comment Wednesday and directed the Nevada Current to its FEMA funding application, which they said “clearly delineates.”

The Washoe County Jail already contracts with ICE to provide detention services for the federal agency. It is the only detention center in Northern Nevada under such a contract, though many agencies across the state will hold people for ICE when requested to.

Four law enforcement agencies in Nevada are listed as participating in ICE’s 287(g) program — the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Douglas, Lyon and Mineral counties sheriff’s offices.

In May, Nevada State Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus called on all local law enforcement agencies to participate in the 287(g) program.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice included Nevada on a list of 35 “sanctuary” jurisdictions, a designation that political leaders on both sides of the aisle rejected.

Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is up for re-election next year, pointed the blame at Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford, who has announced he is running for governor. Lombardo on social media wrote that Ford has attempted to implement sanctuary policies.

On his end, Ford called Lombardo’s comment “a blatant attempt by a desperate governor to earn praise from Donald Trump in an election year.” Ford said he does “not support policies that provide sanctuary to criminals.”

Urban security program intact

FEMA late last week announced that half a billion dollars in disaster preparedness grant funding will be made available to states, easing concerns among state managers in Nevada that the program was going to be cut by the Trump administration.

Emergency preparedness leaders had been operating on the assumption FEMA would not be releasing funds for the Urban Areas Security Initiative, a grant program that funds high-density potential targets, like the Las Vegas Strip. The state’s top administrator early last week warned that Nevada would likely only be able to fund “essential, sustainment-type” efforts and not enhancements to disaster preparedness and response programs.

Notices to states about the availability of UASI and other FEMA grant programs are typically released in spring. CNN in late July reported on internal FEMA memos suggesting the UASI program might be cut entirely. Applications opened for other FEMA programs late last month with no direction given on whether UASI would become available.

FEMA late last week and notified states the money would be available.

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April Corbin Girnus is an award-winning journalist and deputy editor of Nevada Current. A stickler about municipal boundary lines, April enjoys teaching people about unincorporated Clark County. She grew up in Sunrise Manor and currently resides in Paradise with her husband, three children and one mutt.