North Las Vegas Proposes Bill Removing Citizenship Requirement For Police Officers

In a move similar to California and Utah, and to address police recruitment challenges, the North Las Vegas city council has proposed Assembly Bill 30 which would remove the citizenship requirement to patrol the streets.

According to Fox 5 news:

“When we started looking at what the state had done in 2015 for teachers, we said why don’t we just do the same thing for police officers?” North Las Vegas director of government affairs Jared Luke said.

“We’ve talked to a lot of groups that work with high school kids and young adults, and there’s a massive interest to be in the police field,” Luke said. “But there’s that barrier where they just can’t.”

“When you talk about inclusionary measures. When you talk about equity and opportunity. AB 30 kind of envelops all of that,” Luke said.

Last year the city of North Las Vegas became the first police department in the state to allow non-citizens into their youth explorers program. The program gives teens a chance to learn about a future career in law enforcement.

The number of young adults in the program has grown since opening to non-citizens.

The legislature will convene on February 6th and the bill, if passed by both chambers, will head to Governor Lombardo’s desk for review and signature or veto.

Nevada has the highest proportion of illegal immigrants of any U.S. state, approximately 168,000 undocumented immigrants, of which 45 percent speak English “not very well” or “not at all” and 59 percent are uninsured.

According to federal law, it is unlawful “to hire, or to recruit or refer for a fee, for employment in the United States an alien knowing the alien is an unauthorized alien with respect to such employment” and further prohibits an alien entering into a position that is subject to collective bargaining.

The Globe has reached out to Governor Lombardo, former Sheriff of Clark County, for comment.  We will update the story accordingly.