A divisive and protracted years-long quest to terminate Mesquite’s police chief is causing collateral damage in the executive offices of City Hall over allegations of racist remarks by the city manager.

In an audio recording obtained by the Current, Mesquite City Manager Edward Owen Dickie tells several residents that he notified police union officials last year that if Chief MaQuade Chesley were fired, he’d replace him with a “6 foot 5 Black woman…”

“…Early on, I said ‘guys, I’m going down to Louisiana, I’m going back to the back parishes and I’m going to find me a 6 foot 5 Black woman chief…’” Dickie is heard saying in the recording from February.

The statement echoes another by Dickie recorded in late 2024, according to sources, in which he repeats a similar assertion made to the Mesquite Police Officers Association, which was seeking Chesley’s ouster.

“I told them I’d like to go down to Louisiana with the biggest Black Aunt Jemima. I was careful how I said it cuz…. But I said ‘(unintelligible) would love that and come back and just flippin’ whip you guys into shape,’” Dickie can be heard saying. “I brought this up. I’ve heard things and if the Chief doesn’t come back you guys, it’s not going to be, you’re probably going to hate the next Chief more than him.”

Dickie goes on to say he’s “heard there’s racial issues” in the department.

Dickie, during a phone interview, called the statements “poor taste of humor. I didn’t know I was being recorded. I own it. I learned you just don’t say things that you really shouldn’t be saying. The City Council is aware and they’re going to hand down a reprimand.”

Dickie says the residents who recorded him were alleging racism against police officers and suggested he hire a Black chief.

“‘Maybe what we need is diversity,’ I was telling them. ‘Maybe it’s an African-American woman, you know, that is qualified,’” Dickie said of the recorded conversations.

“Those comments are inappropriate for anybody to be using, especially in a work environment, especially in a position of power, where you’re picking the next police chief,” says Wes Boger, who was re-elected in November to serve on the city council, but resigned after a month, citing a desire to spend more time with family.

“I don’t blame Wes for leaving, because this is not worth it,” Councilwoman Patti Gallo, the only member of four who voted against terminating Chesley, said at a special meeting in March that was called to investigate Chesley and ratify his termination.

Last month, Judge Nadia Krall ruled the city failed to comply with the law in its investigation of Chesley, and granted the former chief’s request for a restraining order and injunction, prohibiting the city from holding a public investigation into Chesley’s termination.

Dickie’s statements should preclude him from “any role in the recruitment and/or appointment of the next Chief of Police,” Mesquite resident Bob Muszar wrote in an emailed complaint last week to Mesquite Mayor Jesse Whipple.

Federal law prohibits hiring based on race. Dickie says the city has scrapped its search and will stick with a successor from inside the department.

Whipple, in a reply to Muszar, defended Dickie, suggesting he “was trying to express to them that he would like to make sure that racism was not acceptable within our city or department,” and “was using that example as an illustration that our department could use some diversity within its leadership. I do not believe that he intended it literally.”

“At some point, the City Manager’s intended message becomes irrelevant,” Muszar wrote back. “Throwing race, gender, size and point of origin all into a single statement generates just too much fodder for anyone wanting to challenge the recruitment/appointment process.”

While Dickie’s recorded statements indicate he was defending Chesley, the relationship at some point became more antagonistic.

When Dickie’s statements prompted a flood of public record requests from residents seeking his text messages and emails, Chesley says he asked the city manager how he was coping with the requests.

Dickie, in response, defended his earlier comments.

“I didn’t say anything like ‘I hate n——, I hate Mexicans,’” Dickie can be heard saying on the recording provided by Chesley.

Dickie, asked to authenticate the recording, said he didn’t remember saying the ‘N’ word, adding he never uses it. “If I said it, it would be that I was saying ‘I didn’t say this.’”

Chesley suggests Dickie could have conveyed the thought without using the actual word.

Dickie alleges Chesley may have altered the recording. “I know he learned how to do that at the FBI academy.”

Former Mesquite City Police Chief MaQuade Chesley has filed a wrongful termination suit against the city. (Photo: City of Mesquite)

“I have the entire conversation and it is easy to prove it wasn’t doctored,” Chesley responded, adding he would sign a court affidavit stating as much.

Dickie also suggests he was baited by residents Nick Alfonsetti and Mike Benham to repeat the assertion he made to the police union about finding a female Black chief.

“It’s sad,” he said, adding he “didn’t know there are people really like that out there.”

Alfonsetti and Benham say Dickie was not baited. The discussion, they say, was in response to Dickie’s earlier assurances that he would not fire Chesley.

“That’s when the whole thing came up about hiring somebody outside Mesquite, because the police didn’t like anybody that was in the department,” Alfonsetti said.

Dickie said he is good friends with Chesley, though he acknowledges they never socialized together. Chesley says Dickie, who was hired by the city last summer, “is not my friend and never has been. I don’t associate with people who make racist comments or jokes. In the short time I’ve known Owen he has repeatedly done both.”

Dickie, who initially cited a no-confidence vote by the Mesquite Police Officers’ Association as one of the factors to be considered in Chesley’s termination, was unable to say how many members voted or how many expressed no confidence in Chesley.

The MPOA did not respond to the Current’s request for the information.

“As a labor attorney who represents labor organizations, I would never recommend doing a vote of no confidence unless you can have almost 100% if not 100% of your members voting,” says Reno attorney Ronald Dreher, who is representing Chesley in a lawsuit against the city, adding “it’s odd not to put up the numbers.”

The wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Chesley against the city alleges the city violated Nevada law, which requires any investigation of a police officer be conducted by law enforcement. The city has commissioned several investigations, Dreher said, but none were conducted by law enforcement.

Fall from grace

Mesquite, a small city about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, was founded by Mormon pioneers in the 1880s. The population was predominantly Mormon until a building boom in the last 15 years brought thousands of retirees to the Virgin Valley community.

“Every police chief that’s ever been promoted in the City of Mesquite has been a white Mormon,” says Chesley. “I fit the bill in 2019 when I became the police chief.”

A turning point came, Chesley says, when he began getting calls from individuals who expected favors, such as making traffic tickets disappear. “My response was always ‘we have court proceedings for that.’”

His fall from grace with the Mormon community, he says, was cemented on the heels of rumors allegedly circulated by former City Attorney Bob Sweetin. Sweetin was appointed last year by Gov. Joe Lombardo to the Real Estate Division’s Common Interest Communities Commission, which regulates homeowners’ associations.

“Bob had spread rumors that I was having affairs and getting people pregnant and having sexual relationships with minor females, and so I filed a harassment complaint with Human Resources,” says Chesley. “I’ve been a police executive for the past 14 years. I’ve always held myself to a higher standard. I don’t have locker room talk. I don’t have sexual discussions like most guys do. No one will ever say ‘MaQuade is talking filth.’ I just don’t talk that way. I don’t like to be around it. To be accused of these things floored me. It destroyed me and my family.”

Sweetin says an investigation cleared him of spreading rumors. He says his termination was purely political.

Sweetin also alleged financial crimes against Chesley. Attorney General Aaron Ford investigated and found no evidence of criminal violations, according to Chesley’s lawsuit against the city.

The final straw for Chesley may have been an internal investigation Mesquite Police initiated under Chesley’s watch into allegations leveled against Officer Ryan Hughes.

“Ryan had applied multiple times for the police department, but he never passed any background checks,” says Chesley. As a police officer, Chesley assisted on Hughes’ background investigations and quickly learned Hughes had a reputation as a bully.

Hughes was eventually hired by former Chief Troy Tanner.

In June of 2024, Mesquite Police launched an internal investigation of Hughes. Chesley says the officer went on leave for twelve weeks, mounted a campaign against Chesley, and won assurances from two council members, Karen Fielding and Brian Wursten, that they’d vote to fire Chesley if the police union could deliver a vote of no confidence.

Hughes, Fielding, and Wursten did not respond to requests for comment.

In January, Hughes was terminated because he never passed a background check, a psychological exam, or a polygraph examination, according to Chesley, but was rehired three days later by Dickie.

“Ryan Hughes was terminated, through no fault of his own, due to the City’s discovery of an incomplete background investigation performed by a previous police administration,” Dickie told the Current via text. He says Hughes was rehired “due to the fact the discrepancy was not due to any action or inaction on his part.”

“They wouldn’t allow me to be involved at all,” says Chesley, adding Hughes “painted a picture that I retaliated against him and placed him on administrative leave and investigated him” because he was vocal in his opposition to Chesley in union meetings.

At the January 14th city council meeting following Hughes’ rehiring, text messages from Hughes’ police department cell phone obtained through a public records request were read during public comment by a detractor, Daniel Miller.

“Watching this battle between the Dallas little dicks and buff daddies feels like I’m watching two severely Down Syndrome kids see who can lick more windows on the short bus on their way to school,” read one text attributed to Hughes.

“I could not stop envisioning beating the s--- out of both of those kids last night. I had to open the Corona app and do some breathing exercises,” says another text.

In another text, Hughes decries a city law that prohibits drinking alcohol in the park. “The government can’t tell us when and where we can drink. I’ll bring an ice chest.”

In another text, Hughes writes he hasn’t “been very good about logging” his K9 training. “I may or may not be copying and pasting my logs from a different time period and just changing the dates.”

The revelation could prove perilous for the city should Hughes’ arrests involving a K9 be challenged in court, say experts.

Whipple, the mayor, said the text messages and K9 log falsification were investigated internally by Mesquite Police, who deemed Hughes could not lose his job for the offenses under the union contract.

“There were two officers who had an issue with the K9 logs,” Whipple said during a phone interview Monday. “Both were disciplined by loss of pay for that, and Hughes had more” sanctions as a result of the offensive texts.

Just weeks after Hughes’ termination and rapid rehiring, Chesley was summoned to a meeting with Dickie, the city manager, and the mayor.

Chesley, who says he was at a doctor’s appointment at the time, informed the city that he was unable to go to work, based on his doctor’s order.

Dickie says Chesley’s failure to attend the meeting amounted to insubordination and terminated him.

“It was just weird,” Dickie said of Chesley’s failure to make the meeting. He declined to say whether it’s city policy to terminate individuals who take leave on doctor’s orders.

Chesley is suing the city for wrongful termination in both state and federal courts.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com.

Nevada’s golden goose – the hospitality industry – could get cooked as a result of President Donald Trump’s protectionist trade policies, some experts fear. On Tuesday, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods imported from its two top trade partners – Canada and Mexico. An additional 10% levy on imports from China went into effect last month, on top of existing tariffs.

“I am gravely concerned that our tourism workers will face layoffs from the Trump tariffs,” Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat from Southern Nevada, said Wednesday.

Federal tax revenue is projected to increase by $142 billion as a result of the tariffs on imported goods, amounting to an average increased cost of $1,072 per U.S. household, according to the Tax Foundation.

The policy is at odds with Trump’s promise, as a candidate and after taking office in his second term, to lower costs for inflation-weary Americans.

The tariffs will have an “immediate impact on the cost of imported household items, groceries, and essentials critical for Nevada families,” Bryan Wachter of the Nevada Retail Association said in a statement Tuesday that urged the Trump administration and trade partners to find alternative solutions without burdening families and businesses.

The “little disturbance” to the economy forecasted by Trump on Tuesday could render a Las Vegas vacation out of reach for tourists, and slash disposable income for residents, many of whom earn their living in hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments.

“The Trump tariffs will lead to an international economic slowdown,” said Titus. “Las Vegas knows well that when there is a downturn, we are the first to feel the impacts and the last to recover, and if prices are higher in the United States, as anticipated, people will not have money in their pocket to go on holiday.”

More than half of international visitation to Southern Nevada, still on the mend from the pandemic, comes from Canada and Mexico.

The president alleges the countries have not done enough to curb the flow of fentanyl across the borders.

In Fiscal Year 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, and have seized 10 pounds so far this fiscal year. By contrast, authorities seized 21,000 pounds at the southern border in FY 24, and 5,400 pounds in the current fiscal year.

“Trump’s Tariffs are a direct attack on the workers who power Nevada’s economy: Hospitality workers, construction workers, and agricultural workers,” Culinary Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in a news release Tuesday. “Closing the border, deporting 11 million undocumented workers who help power the greatest economy in the world, and enacting reckless tariffs will blow up our economy and push us into a recession.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Trump’s actions a “very dumb move,” and accused the president of plotting “a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that will make it easier to annex us,” the BBC reported Tuesday. “That is never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state.”

More than 40% of U.S. imports come from Mexico, Canada, and China according to Census data. Nevadans buy more than $3 billion in goods from Mexico and Canada annually, says a news release from U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat.

“President Trump says he is standing up for American families and workers, but these tariffs on our allies will raise prices and cost the U.S. as many as 400,000 blue-collar jobs,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “Make no mistake, President Trump’s actions are going to jack up the cost of groceries, medicine, and new cars, and could make buying a new home more than $20,000 more expensive, all to pay for tax cuts for his wealthy friends.”

Axios estimates an effective increase of 153% in Nevada for the cost of imported goods, compared with existing tariffs, and an annual economic impact to the state of $985 million, about .5% of the state’s gross domestic product.

Gov. Joe Lombardo did not respond to requests for comment on the potential impact of Trump’s tariffs.

A menu in flux

American diners are coming to terms with higher food prices, says Nevada Restaurant Association Government Affairs and Communications Manager Peter Saba, who suggests eateries can minimize the impact of tariffs by tweaking their menus, substitute ingredients if necessary, or maybe add a small surcharge rather than increase prices across the board.

In 2023, Mexico supplied 63% of vegetable imports and 47% of fruit and nuts to the U.S.

“In Nevada, we rely on a substantial portion of produce, seafood, and alcoholic beverages from Mexico and Canada. Those will be some of the first things that get hit,” Saba says, adding that domestic sourcing is often not a realistic option. “Certain ingredients aren’t in season year round as it is, even in some of these other places we import from.”

A greater concern than increasing prices, he says, is the prospect that “people will just stay away. A lot more people are already not eating out because of inflation. With tariffs on top of that, I think we’re most worried they just won’t come.”

Paul Lagudi of Lagudi Fresh Food Group, a full service food company serving resorts in Las Vegas and nationwide, says he doesn’t anticipate a slow down in tourism, or increase in the cost of produce to his clients.

“We might have to buy produce from different regions instead of Mexico and Canada,” Lagudi says, adding that switching sources doesn’t mean higher prices. “Not at all. We pull out of Guatemala and Costa Rica every day.”

The produce business, he says, is “all about supply and demand. You can put on any tariff you want. At the end of the day, If nobody’s buying the product, you ain’t selling the product. You know what happens? They start dropping their prices. They’re going to start calling up and saying, ‘Listen, can you help me out? Instead of paying $20 or $30, can you take it for $10?’ That’s when we’ll come in and buy it.”

As of Tuesday, the price of watermelon from Mexico was already headed toward a 25% price increase.

“I said ‘keep your watermelon. I’ll pull from Costa Rica, and I’ll pay $100 a bin less,” Lagudi said.

A change in plans?

The Nevada Resort Association says it’s too soon to determine the potential impacts of Trump’s tariffs on the casino industry, but is “closely monitoring” developments.

Tourists from Canada and Mexico have topped international visitation to Southern Nevada every year since 2010, with 30% of tourists originating from Canada and 22% from Mexico in 2023.

In 2023, visitation to Southern Nevada from the two countries reached 2.4 million – a rebound following a post-COVID slump, but far below the 2014 peak of 2.99 million.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chief Steve Hill did not respond to requests for comment on whether the tariffs are likely to pose a setback in efforts to lure international visitors.

Travel Nevada, the state’s tourism office, said it may be too early to determine the effects of the tariffs.

“Now is also the time to choose Canada,” Trudeau, annoyed by Trump’s threats to annex Canada and impose tariffs, said in a speech this month. “It might mean changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites and tourist destinations our great country has to offer.”

“People are cancelling trips to Las Vegas, Hawaii and Florida. They don’t feel welcome in America,” says British Columbia resident Rhonda Porter, who has been visiting Las Vegas since she was a child. She says Canadians are irked not only by Trump’s trade war, but also by his desire to turn Canada into a state.

“We’ve gotten rid of all of our liquor from the red states,” said Porter. “No Kentucky bourbon.”

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario ordered U.S. products removed from shelves in its retail stores, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

Canadian tourists spent $20.5 billion in the U.S. last year, the New York Times reports.

“The top 5 most visited states by Canadians—Florida, California, Nevada, New York and Texas—could see declines in retail and hospitality revenue, as shopping is the top leisure activity for Canadian visitors,” says the U.S. Travel Association.

“If we raise prices on Canadians and Mexicans, the first thing they will cut is travel,” Titus said. ”That will have serious effects on our economy. Last year, seven of the top eight foreign markets for air travel to Las Vegas were in Canada and Mexico.”

Gas prices are also expected to increase because of tariffs on Canadian oil, Titus said. “And housing prices will skyrocket as construction materials get more expensive.”

On Wednesday, the White House delayed the imposition of tariffs on imports for U.S. car manufacturers for one month; deemed Canada’s efforts to meet Trump’s border security demands as “not good enough,”; and doubled down on the president’s warning that beginning April 2, the U.S. will impose reciprocal tariffs on all countries that place tariffs on U.S. products.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com.

The Green Beret who shot himself seconds before the Tesla Cybertruck he rented went up in a fiery explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day referred to the event as “a wake up call” and effort to rid himself of the “burden” of the lives he took in combat. He also advocated a Jan. 6-like takeover of federal buildings and the ouster of Democrats from government and the military.

“Try peaceful means first, but be prepared to fight to get the Dems out of the fed government and military by any means necessary,” he wrote. “They all must go and a hard reset must occur for our country to avoid collapse.”

“Fellow Servicemembers, Veterans and all Americans, TIME TO WAKE UP! We are being led by weak and feckless leadership who only serve to enrich themselves,” Matthew Livelsberger wrote on one of two iPhones retrieved from the vehicle, in what police call two letters and a journal detailing his preparations in the ten days leading up to his suicide.

Evidence reviewed by police thus far “scratches the surface” of the information retrieved by investigators, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference Friday.

Metro’s release of the text following the news conference revealed Livelsberger’s messaging spiraled into a rant urging militia to line streets and converge on federal buildings.

“We are the United States of America, the best country people to ever exist! But right now we are terminally ill and headed towards collapse,” reads a second entry. “This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives? Why did I personally do it now? I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost, and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”

“We are also aware that there were potential other family issues or personal grievances in his own life that may have been contributing factors,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans told reporters.

He added that law enforcement learned through interviews that Livelsberger suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had “no animosity toward the president-elect.”

Livelsberger urges the nation to rally around Trump and Elon Musk, and calls for a negotiated settlement in Ukraine.

“Focus on strength and winning. Masculinity is good and men must be leaders. Strength is a deterrent and fear is the product,” he wrote.

“Stop obsessing over diversity,” he added. “We are all diverse and DEI is a cancer. Thankfully we rejected the DEI candidate and will have a real President instead of Weekend at Bernie’s.”

Authorities have found no definitive connection between Livelsberger and the perpetrator of the New Orleans Bourbon St. massacre on New Year’s Day.

McMahill observed that the highly-decorated soldier who served five tours of combat was “not much different” than the officers at Metro, and noted the department’s focus on “taking care of the heart, mind, body and soul of the people that are out there doing this work because they’re exposed to things, they see things, they hear things, they feel things, and they smell things that most normal people don’t have to do. And the heroes that are serving in the military and on the front lines of America’s policing are challenged that way.”

The incident, he said, is a reminder to “pay attention to what mental health in America looks like” and a reminder of the “need to talk about these things.”

Note: This story was updated with information included in a link police provided to two of the notes found on Livelsberger’s phone.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com.

Nevada’s captains of industry and political leaders are doing little, if anything, to prepare for the potential economic hit as well as the human toll of President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to deport at least 11 million undocumented immigrants, including 189,000 who live in Nevada.

Trump has long said he intends to use the National Guard, local law enforcement, and possibly the military, to achieve his goal – beginning on “day one.”

“Getting them out will be a bloody story,” Trump said at a rally in Wisconsin earlier this year of Operation Aurora, named for the Colorado town Trump insists is being taken over by Venezuelan gangs.

Gov. Joe Lombardo ignored multiple inquiries from the Current about whether he’ll assist Trump by deploying the state’s National Guard.

UNLV Immigration Clinic Director Michael Kagan says he’s not surprised the governor is evading questions about whether he’ll cooperate with Trump, observing that as sheriff of Clark County, Lombardo was keen on cooperating with ICE.

“Lombardo more or less ran on that when he campaigned for governor,” Kagan told the Current. “He has to run for re-election himself in two years, so a request like that could put him in the hot seat.”

Trump is naming a team of loyalists to oversee the effort – as Attorney General, former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was investigated but not charged by the Justice Dept. for allegedly operating a sex trafficking ring of underage girls; former adviser and speechwriter Stephen Miller, one of the pro-deportation architects of Project 2025, as his assistant chief of staff for policy; former ICE director Tom Homan as ‘border czar’; and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Director.

Homeland Security oversees not only immigration, but also anti-terrorism initiatives and the Secret Service. Noem is best known for killing her hunting dog and a goat out of anger.

The president-elect pledges to remove some 11 to 13.5 million undocumented individuals whose contributions to the economy are significant but often unseen – particularly in construction, hospitality, and agriculture.

A report from the American Immigration Council (AIC) pegs the cost of a one-time deportation operation at $315 billion. ICE currently has only 41,000 beds. Detaining immigrants is estimated to cost $167.8 billion. CNN reported this week that Trump’s associates have been working with the private sector to detain and deport the undocumented population, citing sources familiar with the discussions.

AIC’s estimate of $315 billion is conservative and does not account for long-term costs of a sustained operation “or the incalculable additional costs necessary to acquire the institutional capacity to remove over 13 million people in a short period of time—incalculable because there is simply no reality in which such a singular operation is possible.”

Assuming 20 percent of the undocumented population would “self-deport”, the AIC estimates the costs of a multi-year campaign at $88 billion a year and $968 billion over a decade.

According to the AIC, mass deportation in Nevada would:

remove some 136,000 undocumented workers who make up 9% of the state’s employed workforce, the highest share per capita in the nation;remove almost one-quarter of skilled construction workers and 13% of hospitality workers:result in the loss of 43% of landscaping and groundskeeping workers; 42.5% of construction laborers, 41.6% of carpenters, 35.3% of housekeeping workers, and 25.4% of cooks.

U.S. born Americans, who work for undocumented entrepreneurs, are also at risk of losing their jobs.

Kagan says the “devastation to the Nevada economy and to Nevada’s families and communities is something that I don’t think anyone alive has any lived experience to calculate, to understand.”

An analysis from the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy concludes that mass deportation adversely affects society because businesses do not replace the deported workers.

“This is because they do not find U.S. workers who want to do the jobs; they turn to machines to replace the workers, depending on the industry, or because they reduce operations, resulting in layoffs, elimination of positions, or salary reductions,” writes Maribel Hastings of America’s Voice, an immigrant rights organization.

AIC projects gross domestic product would decline by 4.2 to 6.8% as a result of mass deportation. Tax revenue for the federal government, buoyed by $46.8 billion in annual federal income tax paid by undocumented immigrants, would plunge, as would state and local coffers across the country, which receive $29.3 billion a year from the undocumented population.

Undocumented immigrants also contribute $22.6 billion annually to Social Security and $5.7 billion to Medicare.

A study released this year from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning, nonprofit think tank, found undocumented immigrants paid nearly $100 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022.

Undocumented immigrants would contribute another $40.2 billion more per year in federal, state and local taxes if the population had legal permission to work, pay taxes, and receive the benefits.

In Nevada, undocumented immigrants paid a total of $507.1 million in taxes in 2022, with more than half, $271.9 million, in the form of sales tax, the study said.

Lombardo also did not respond to questions about the impact of deportation on Nevada’s budget, which is heavily reliant on sales tax.

Trump, in deporting millions of undocumented immigrants “would degrade productive capacity, balloon deficits and — yes — bring inflation roaring back, keeping a grim pledge on punitive immigration policy while breaking one on providing relief to American consumers,” economist Paul Krugman wrote Monday in the New York Times.

The cost of bacon, a favorite flashpoint for conservative voters who are banking on Trump’s promise to lower prices, is likely a fraction of what it would be should undocumented workers, who comprise roughly half of the nation’s agricultural workers (who kill livestock in addition to picking fruits and vegetables) be removed.

“There has long been collective, willful blindness,” Kagan says of the ubiquitous space undocumented immigrants take up in the economy and in communities. “We see it everywhere, but it’s also easy to ignore it.”

Official Nevada to the rescue?

Although Trump’s prelude to deportation has been lengthy and loud, political and business leaders in Nevada are revealing no concrete plans to impede it.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto says she “will always stand up for hardworking immigrant communities,” and will “do everything in her power” to stop Trump. She would not say what power she has to derail the deportation plan or whether she’s discussed it with Lombardo.

“Senator Jacky Rosen has serious concerns about a far-reaching plan to deport immigrants who haven’t committed crimes and who are contributing to our economy every day,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “She’s committed to standing up for Nevada’s hardworking immigrant community, and will fight back against efforts that would separate law-abiding families.”

The spokesperson did not say how Rosen would “fight back” or whether she’s talked with Lombardo.

Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat who has been named as a potential rival to Lombardo in 2026, would not say whether he’s discussed Trump’s deportation plan with the governor.

Trump’s priorities for a second term include building affordable housing – a product that is likely to be slowed and made more expensive by mass deportation. The Southern Nevada Home Builders Association said it had nothing to share on the topic, and declined to say whether the organization had approached Lombardo.

Trump is also counting on deportation to free up homes for citizens. In 2022, 39% or 1.6 million undocumented immigrants nationwide owned their own homes. Census data indicates about a third of unauthorized immigrants in Nevada are homeowners.

The Nevada Resort Association, which represents the state’s gaming and resort industry, is unaware of any discussions about the effects of deportation among its members, some of the largest employers in the state.

“I don’t think the resorts employ undocumented people,” NRS president Virginia Valentine said via email.

Many resort industry employees, however, live in mixed-status households, says Culinary Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge. “It’s their family members, their neighbors, their friends,” who are at risk of deportation, he says. Trump, who owns a hotel in Las Vegas, would likely suffer from a dearth of hospitality workers.

The union, which represents nearly 60,000 workers, also counts among its members Dreamers, young people brought to the country illegally as children, who have been awarded temporary protected status via Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

The AIC estimates some 5.1 million U.S. born children live in America’s four million mixed-status households, and projects the deportation of a breadwinner would result in decreased household income of 62.7% or $51,200 a year. In Nevada, 9% of households are mixed-status, the largest share in the nation, according to Pew Research.

The state’s Department of Employment and Training Rehabilitation says it has no data on the effect of deportation on the workforce and the economy.

Pappageorge says conducting mass deportations “is a ridiculous idea. It will blow up this economy, and with Trump’s policies of tariffs, you don’t know what it’s going to do.”

The union “negotiated very tough language in our contract that essentially supports the rights for folks to become citizens, but also requires companies to follow the rule of law and not be agents of wild mass raids and deportations,” Pappageorge says. “We’re going to fight like hell to protect our members, their families and this economy.”

The Las Vegas Chamber acknowledges Trump’s deportation plan and intent to impose tariffs would affect its members.

“Our Government Affairs Committee hasn’t weighed in on those issues at all,” spokeswoman Cara Clark said during an interview. “Our members, like the rest of the nation, are still processing results, and no specific policies have been brought forward for enactment or for legislative debate.”

Scott Muelrath, president and CEO of the Henderson Chamber, declined to respond to inquiries, according to a spokeswoman.

“The discussions with industries/members and the LCC, has been consistently asking, begging (for), demanding etc. Comprehensive Immigration Reform“ says Latin Chamber of Commerce president Peter Guzman. “My members need employees, and immigration done correctly can help fill those voids. Furthermore, it is important that this country have a dignified process for immigrants to continue to contribute to this great country. Without that dignified reform, you get chaos.” He declined to say whether he has discussed deportation with Lombardo.

Bryan Wachter of the Retail Association of Nevada says he’s keeping an eye on the situation but has yet to discuss it with members.

The local chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses says it is not involved in the issue and declined to say whether it has discussed deportation with Lombardo.

NFIB’s October jobs report notes 35% percent of business owners reported having job openings they could not fill in October, up one point from September, while 49% of contractors have an open position they can’t fill.

Four steps to the border

“I know Trump says ‘day one’ but that’s not the way it would work,” says Kagan. “This would be more like a big, heavy train that starts off going extremely slowly, but then accelerates.‘

Deportation is a four-step process. The government must first identify, locate, and apprehend undocumented people. Next it must determine whether an individual can be released on bond, paroled, or detained. Experts say it’s likely most or all would remain in custody. Third, a judge determines if the immigrant qualifies for relief, or if the government should be awarded an order of removal, or allow the person to voluntarily leave. Lastly, the government deports the individual, who is generally repatriated to their home or another country.

Project 2025, which Trump claims he knows nothing about, calls for military assistance in the apprehension of undocumented people, while Trump’s own Agenda 47 envisions the National Guard and local law enforcement lending a hand. He’s also said he’d “have no problem” using the military.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump’s advisers are “weighing a national emergency declaration that would allow the incoming administration to repurpose military assets to detain and remove migrants.”

Democratic governors in some states could mount a resistance to using the Guard and local police. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told MSNBC that she would “absolutely not” allow state police to assist with deportations.

Should Lombardo and others resist a Trump bid to allow the Nevada National Guard to assist, the future president could override them via the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to deploy the National Guard, and which Trump has threatened to use.

State Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager did not respond to requests for comment.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill would not say whether he’d allow Metro Police to take part in deportations.

However, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police provided a policy that says although officers have the authority to assist with federal law enforcement, Metro “will not enforce immigration violations. Officers will not stop and question, detain, arrest” on the grounds that an individual is undocumented.

Refusing to participate could cost Metro in the form of federal funding. Trump is considering pulling grants from police departments that refuse to cooperate.

In 2019 — when Trump was in office and Lombardo was sheriff — Metro ended its immigration agreement with ICE. The controversial partnership called for holding detainees on misdemeanor charges until immigration agents could arrive and transfer to federal detention for removal from the country.

However, in 2021, after Lombardo crowed at a campaign event about deporting 10,000 immigrants, the Las Vegas Review-Journal revealed that Metro, under Lombardo’s direction, helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrest non-violent undocumented immigrants – the same people Trump now seeks to deport.

The Washoe County Sheriff also declined to answer. “At this time, that is a hypothetical question and we have no comment,” a spokeswoman said.

Local law enforcement, critics argue, is not set up to manage such duties and still keep their communities safe.

Who will be targeted?

Trump’s demonization of immigrants as criminals who are “poisoning the blood” of Americans has resulted in a phenomenon in which people discount any application of his policies to them or those they know, suggests Kaplan.

“People convince themselves ‘he’s not talking about me,’ or ‘he’s not talking about my employee,’ or ‘he’s not talking about my neighbor or my friend’. He talks about them all as criminals or even worse. And so people think ‘he’s clearly not talking about the people I know.’”

Trump and his surrogates have said they’ll target criminals first. But Kagan notes the government is already deporting undocumented immigrants who have criminal records.

Trump deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term, about the same as the 1.49 million deported by Pres. Joe Biden’s administration, which also turned back some 3 million immigrants at the border under Title 42, a Trump policy that remained in effect for much of Biden’s term.

“If they really only want to target people who have criminal records, that’s not very different from the Biden policy. There is a line to be drawn. How serious a criminal record do you have to have to be a target? You could turn the dial up a little bit, and affect some people, but that’s in the margins. That’s what they did in the first Trump term. That’s not a mass deportation.”

“In my work, I have to take him seriously about what he said he wants to do, and there are a lot of signs that both Donald Trump and the people around him have given a good deal of thought to this,” he says “So you’re not going to be talking about people with criminal records. You’re going to be talking about everyday people who are very integrated in our community.”

Trump, for all his pro-family rhetoric, has no qualms about separating children from their parents via deportation.

“When you hear that you’re going to be separated from your family, you don’t come,” Trump said in a 2023 interview with Univision.

“People need to be deported,” Homan, Trump’s designated border czar, has said. “No one should be off the table.”

That includes recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – people who arrived in the country illegally as children – as well as those granted temporary status while cooperating with law enforcement prosecution of labor law violations (Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement), and others with temporary protected status.

“I don’t think it’s going to be the mass deportation he’s been talking about,” says Alfonso Lopez, political director and organizer for Sheet Metal Workers Local 88 in Las Vegas. “When you try to deport 10 or 11 million people, you know the economy is going to take a hit, and that’s one of his biggest campaign issues – to improve the economy.”

“He can build a perfect storm. That’s for sure,” said Lopez’ colleague Robert Diaz. “Chaos follows him, and somehow he can wrangle the tornado.”

Trump’s campaign declined to address the dissonance of its pledges to lower costs on goods and services while purging the nation of low-income workers who perform jobs Americans reject.

“The people of Nevada elected Donald Trump to carry out an America First agenda that includes enforcing our laws and deporting illegal immigrants” Trump’s Nevada communications director said via email following the election.

“He will deliver,” added a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and X.

Job development agencies in Nevada spent $44,769 per person — the highest of all 50 states and 20 times the national average — to provide career services to 350 newly unemployed workers in fiscal year 2022, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The effort cost taxpayers $15 million, about 40% of the state’s $38 million annual allotment for workforce development under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) from the DOL.

The national average spent on career services for a dislocated worker in the same year was $2,232.

“They spent $15 million and only provided career services to 350 people.That's embarrassing for Nevada, given the number of jobs open in the state,” said John Pallasch, former assistant secretary of employment and training for the DOL during the Trump administration.

Pallasch notes Nevada has the highest job growth as well as the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and 78,000 vacant positions as of the end of 2023. “How much is it going to cost to fill those jobs?”

Career services under WIOA, enacted by President Barack Obama in 2014, consists of job searches, resume building, skills assessments, computer class, interview training, help paying for work expenses, such as work boots, and other related assistance.

“Career services are very basic,” says Pallasch. “It’s ‘Hey, I lost my job.’ ‘Cool. Here's a job board. And there's a computer over there. And we have a lot of manufacturing jobs in this area. See you later.’”

DETR defended its programs. “The programs mentioned have different needs and different participation rates,” a spokeswoman said via email. “While the per-participant cost may appear higher in this context, it reflects our dedication to upholding program standards and ensuring a valuable experience for each participant.”

Of the 350 dislocated workers who received career services in FY 2022, 236 also received training from state-approved providers at a cost of $886 per person, or $210,844.

“There are no training programs I know of that cost $800. At least not any that local workforce boards are using,” Pallasch said. The national average cost of training for a dislocated worker in FY 2022 was $3,544. Training costs generally exceed the cost of career services, with the exception of youth participants.

Pallasch says states are placing people into subpar training programs and says he created a website meant “to force states to look at the training programs they’re putting WIOA participants in. They’re required to keep the lists up to date and do performance checks, but they don’t. Once you're on the list, you're on the list forever.”

‘Use it or lose it’

Pallasch says Nevada’s $15 million investment in career services for 350 people does not reflect the actual value of the services provided. Instead, he says, in an environment that requires states to use or lose their allocation of WIOA funds, states spend whatever they are allotted by the federal government.

“The reality is because the workforce boards have rent payments, because they have recurring bills, because they have salaries, they're spending all of this money. Whether they serve 350 people or 550 people, it's going to cost them $15 million. That's the problem. The money is not going to the individual job seeker. The vast majority of that money went to overhead and costs,” says Pallash, who says he flagged the issue for the U.S. Inspector General, asking how states, during the pandemic, “could possibly have spent all the WIOA money when all of the career centers were closed.”

DOL allotted Nevada $31.7 million in WIOA funds for 2020; $39.1 million in 2021; $38.2 million in 2022; and $41.4 million last year. The state takes a 10% cut off the top for administrative services and each governor is permitted to set aside up to 15% for pet projects.

“These funds are pooled in the Governor’s Reserve, providing additional flexibility for Governors to invest funding without needing to follow the program restrictions of each of the sources,” states the National Governors Association’s website.

“As prescribed in the Act and federal regulations, that State set-aside has been used towards those allowable activities,” Gov. Joe Lombardo’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Ray said. She directed questions about the specifics to DETR, which did not immediately provide details of the programs funded by the Governor’s Reserve.

“There may be no more dysfunctional part of state government than in the services provided to our workforce,” Lombardo said in his State of the State speech in 2023. “Delays, fraud, and system failures have become commonplace.”

Funds flow down to the local workforce boards, which are charged with contracting direct service providers.

The state served 5,273 participants in FY 2022, according to DOL reports, but it’s unknown how many received jobs. Pallasch suggests states that fail to meet their performance goals should be monetarily sanctioned.

Workforce Connections, which oversees the bulk of job development programs in the state, directed the Current to a dashboard that suggests 2,412 participants remained employed in the second quarter following their completion of a program in FY 2022, earning approximately $32,446 a year, based on quarterly earnings.

According to the DOL, the average quarterly salary in FY 2022 for a Nevada adult after receiving workforce assistance was $7,961; $8,812 for a dislocated worker, and $4,370 for a youth.

“The workforce development community loves to talk about the number of people served,” Pallasch observed. “I like to think about the number of people you put in a job. Serving somebody doesn't mean you help them or benefit them in any way. It means you provided them a service. It could have been terrible service.”

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and Twitter.