Gov. Lombardo pledged NV National Guard support for ICE. Here’s why that’s concerning

A Nevada state assemblywoman calls Trump’s deportation scheme—an “out of bounds” relic from the past, leading her to question Nevada’s governor for participating.

Nevada is one of 20 states for which the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requested the deployment of the National Guard to support President Donald Trump’s massive deportation agenda. In response, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo authorized 35 Nevada National Guard members.

A local Democrat challenged Lombardo’s constitutional position after his office confirmed the request for troops, stating that ICE arrests have swept up people without criminal backgrounds and children. She argued that Trump’s anti-immigration agenda had gone “out of bounds.”

“I think it’s time to reposition the issue [away] from immigration—it’s human rights,” Nevada Democratic state Sen. Dina Neal said in an interview. “It’s gone well beyond extricating individuals from this country because they have a criminal background.”

The request for Guard troops came days after Nevada was listed as a “sanctuary state” by the DOJ, recognizing it as a safe haven for undocumented immigrants. Lombardo disagrees with the designation, a classification which puts the state at risk of losing federal funding.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests have surged in Nevada, growing 380% in the first 26 days of June compared to the same period last year, according to an analysis by the Nevada Independent. It spurred a 40% rise in the detainment of people with no criminal record, mirroring national trends. That number could climb as the Trump administration escalates immigrant removal forces, with Nevada in the crosshairs.

Approximately 1,700 National Guard members will deploy across several states until November, operating under state command, according to John Goheen, a retired guardsman and current communications director for the National Guard Association of the United States.

“Is this the first time that this has occurred?” Goheen said. “I believe it is, in terms of assisting in the interior potential.”

Nevada leads the nation in undocumented immigrants per capita, with an estimated population of 200,000. Pew Research found that in 2022, the Silver State had the most mixed-status households, homes with at least one undocumented individual, in the country. The state also topped the list for the most significant representation of unauthorized immigrants in the workforce.

Goheen said troops are traditionally called to support the enforcement of federal immigration laws at the border. Neal called the change a relic from dark days of history’s past.

She compared the increased force being used in President Trump’s deportation agenda to a 1950s deportation operation named for a slur and targeting Mexican immigrants in the Southwest states. It led to large-scale harassment and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. 

“My question to the governor is, is that the kind of history that you want trailing your name?” Neal said. “Is that the kind of story… that you brought back?”

The Nevada National Guard is usually called upon to assist law enforcement in support capacities, including New Year’s Day crowd control on the Las Vegas Strip, when the city attracts roughly half a million visitors—but the latest authorization marks a drastic shift. 

Paid for by federal taxes but remaining under the direction of Lombardo, personnel will provide case management, transportation and logistical support, and clerical support for processing at ICE facilities, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The Nevada National Guard was previously deployed under Trump in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to assist with vaccinations, hand out food and support hospitals.

“We’ve done, in the last century, a myriad of things at the request of the governors or federal authorities,” Goheen said. “The Guard has been likened to a Swiss Army Knife in that it does a lot of different things.”

The details still leave people questioning whether a similar situation to Los Angeles, and now Washington D.C., could occur in Nevada cities, which involved several incidents with troops in civilian areas with weapons, armored trucks, and machine guns. 

The incidents in California drew a lawsuit from a federal judge in San Francisco, for which trial started this week, to decide if the Trump administration violated federal law.

“We’ve always said the devil is in the details,” Neal noted. “But the question is, what are the details?”