The Old Blog in the Desert

Nevada Schools, Immigration, and Children Learning in Peace

It appears, dear reader, that the great state of Nevada finds itself in a struggle most peculiar—namely, whether or not gentlepersons of the federal persuasion should be allowed to prowl about schoolhouses, peering over primers and interrogating young scholars on matters of nativity. One might think that a child’s chief worry in school ought to be arithmetic, not whether a man in a government-issued hat will haul his parents away before lunchtime.

But, alas, this is the age in which we live.

A certain Ms. González, an Assemblywoman, has proposed a bill—AB217—to spare children and their kin from such unpleasantries. The bill, in its essence, instructs immigration officials to keep their business outside school gates unless they arrive bearing a proper warrant or a court order, much like a gentleman caller seeking permission before entering a parlor. More than that, it forbids school employees from tattling to the authorities about a student’s household affairs unless there’s a pressing reason to do so.

It is well known that laws of this nature do not pass through the Legislature without some degree of commotion. For there is always a stout fellow somewhere, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief, lamenting the downfall of civilization should the government be asked to temper its enthusiasm. But Ms. González, undeterred, has made her intentions plain: She means to provide immigrant families a sense of security, lest schoolhouses become the latest hunting ground for those with a fondness for deportation.

The bill comes as the nation finds itself in a curious state, where the laws of yesterday may be tossed out by breakfast and rewritten by suppertime. And nowhere is this uncertainty felt more acutely than in Nevada, where many families now wonder if schools—once a refuge for learning—might become something quite the opposite.

To illustrate the point, Ms. Arce, a devoted school staffer, tells of children who whisper of immigration officers like they were bogeymen lurking beneath their desks. “Although sometimes the children take it as a game,” she notes, “it is a fear that can affect them psychologically.”

And who among us would disagree? It is one thing to fret over a spelling test and quite another to fret over whether one’s father will be home for supper.

Meanwhile, school officials in various counties have issued letters and proclamations saying a student’s information isn’t for sharing with federal agents without due cause. No doubt, this will reassure some, but others may find cold comfort in promises made in ink when laws, as we know, are written in sand.

Adding to the excitement, AB217 also seeks to forbid school police officers from employing chemical agents or stun devices on students—a matter which, one might assume, should hardly need legislation. Yet here we are, in a time when it is necessary to instruct the constabulary that pepper-spraying children is, perhaps, bad form.

Nevada, however, is not alone in this crusade. Other states, too, have taken up the fight. In Oklahoma, legislators contemplate whether schools should inquire about a child’s citizenship before allowing them the privilege of grammar lessons. In New York, teachers have taken to sending cryptic messages to one another at the sight of immigration officers, much like villagers warning of approaching highwaymen.

And so the debate rages on. The Nevada State Education Association affirms that children should attend school without the nagging fear of unexpected government intrusion. It is a modest demand, yet it has the air of revolution.

As for Ms. González’s bill, it remains whether the Legislature will take up the matter with all due haste or if it will get lost in the shuffle of more pressing concerns, such as the proper allocation of funds for road repairs. In either case, one can only hope that Nevada’s children may, in the end, enjoy the rare privilege of attending school without looking over their shoulders.

We’ll Take Your Tire, Your Tax Burdened, Your Corporate Refugees

The great state of Delaware—long the favored haunt of corporations seeking shelter from the storm of responsibility—has taken a mighty blow to its supremacy, thanks to its own Supreme Court. The case at hand involved TripAdvisor’s parent company, which, in a fit of wisdom rarely observed in the business world, determined that it would be far better off under the generous embrace of Nevada law, where the burdens of liability are as light as a feather, and the consequences of mismanagement regarded as mere theoretical inconveniences.

“Nevada is proving itself a smart investment for businesses,” declared Secretary of State Aguilar, who has, no doubt, already commissioned the finest quill to sign the wave of new incorporations he expects to arrive by sundown. “With our business-friendly laws, our commitment to efficiency, and our unparalleled customer service, there is no finer place for a corporation to call home.”

Of course, some meddlesome minority shareholders took umbrage at this noble migration and filed suit, grumbling that it violated some solemn duty. The Delaware Supreme Court, after much profound contemplation and the consumption of many cigars, determined that Nevada’s supposed benefits were too vague and unproven to warrant judicial scrutiny. In other words, Delaware has declared that it will not be in the business of telling companies where they can or cannot flee so long as the paperwork is in order and the lawyers get their due.

The court, in the solemn and stately manner of all judicial bodies, delivered the following wisdom:

“If one expands one’s gaze beyond the mere rights of litigation, it becomes clear that the courts are in no position to measure the finer points of corporate governance across different jurisdictions. In this case, we must refrain from questioning the decisions of directors, who, as we all know, never act in self-interest and always have the well-being of their shareholders close to their hearts.”

Aguilar, naturally, took great delight in the ruling.

“I’m mighty grateful the Delaware Supreme Court has come to its senses and ruled in favor of corporate freedom,” he said, presumably while preparing a telegram reading, “COME ONE, COME ALL,” to be dispatched posthaste to every boardroom in America.

For many years, Delaware has been the grand and venerable temple of corporate law, where companies could do as they pleased with minimal interference from the unwashed masses who had the misfortune of owning shares. But recently, a chorus of disgruntled executives—among them the great and powerful Elon Musk—have begun muttering darkly about Delaware’s courts being too partial to shareholders. Their suspicions were confirmed last year when a Delaware judge took a scythe to Musk’s modest and reasonable $55 billion compensation package, reducing it to the unthinkable sum of zero.

Meanwhile, the wise and forward-thinking stewards of Dropbox have already abandoned Delaware’s increasingly unfriendly shores in favor of Nevada, citing the unpleasant phenomenon of litigation, a plague afflicting all who would rather spend their days issuing press statements than answering to a jury.

And so, with this ruling, Nevada stands ready to welcome all corporations seeking a home where laws are friendly, liabilities are scarce, and shareholders are seen but not heard. Whether this be the beginning of an exodus remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure–Aguilar will be waiting with open arms, a fountain pen, and a freshly inked business license.

The fire popped like a rifle shot, but no one flinched. I leaned back against the log, feeling the warmth creep up my boots. The others sat close, their faces half-lit, half-hidden in the orange wash of the flames.

“Listen, boys,” I said. “I ain’t much good at hunting deer.”

Joe glanced up from his flask, one eyebrow raised. “What’re you getting at?”

“I’ll dress ‘em,” I said. “I can skin ‘em, quarter ‘em, all that. But I can’t bring myself to shoot ‘em anymore.”

The fire hissed as if it didn’t care. The others shifted a little, boots scraping against dirt. Will finally broke the silence.

“Why not?” he asked.

I studied the ground, the way the firelight flickered against the pressed shape of my boots in the dirt. The words didn’t come easy, but they had to come.

“Once you’ve killed men,” I said, “hunting don’t feel like much fun anymore.”

Joe stopped mid-swig, his flask hovering in the air. The others went still. They weren’t looking at me, but I could feel them waiting.

“You mean in combat?” Will asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. The Corps.”

“The Marines,” Joe said. He said it like a statement, not a question.

“That’s right,” I said. “You do that kind of killing, and it gets into your bones. Stays there.”

They passed the flask around again, letting the silence do most of the talking. It didn’t bother me. I wasn’t in a hurry to hear what they thought of it.

Finally, Will spoke up. “You telling me you’d starve before you’d kill something to eat?”

I shook my head, slow and firm. “No,” I said. “If it came to starving, I’d do it. I’ve done worse things to stay alive. But I don’t have to now. And I don’t feel the need. That’s all.”

Joe took another drink, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “Well,” he said, “if that’s how it is, that’s how it is.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s how it is.”

No one argued. The fire kept talking, the sparks jumping into the black sky like they wanted to escape. The night wrapped around us, heavy and cold, and none of us said much after that.

The Great Egg Swindle

It is a well-worn custom in the noble profession of politics that when a calamity befalls the common folk—be it flood, famine, or the sudden skyrocketing of egg prices—the first order of business is not to fix the problem but to locate a suitable scapegoat and dress him in horns.

Thus, we find ourselves observing a most amusing spectacle: the very architects of Nevada’s current egg predicament, those distinguished gentlepersons, who in 2021 hatched a law with the reckless enthusiasm of a fox redesigning the henhouse, now crying foul and casting blame upon a man who had not yet stepped foot into the Governor’s mansion when their handiwork took effect.

Assemblyman Howard Watts’ bill was supported proudly by Speaker Steve Yeager and officially signed into law by Governor Steve Sisolak, marking a notable example of legislative error. And yet, here the Democrats stand, indignant, wagging their fingers at Governor Joe Lombardo as though he had single-handedly stormed every chicken coop in the state and demanded tribute in yolks.

To witness this performance is to appreciate the boundless creativity of our public servants. Having set fire to the barn, they now declare that the new owner is to blame for the smoke. The remedy is another law, crafted with equal care and forethought, expected to produce consequences just as unexpected as the last.

In the meantime, the ordinary citizen, standing in the grocery aisle and pondering whether he must now take out a second mortgage to afford a breakfast omelet, may take solace in this one certainty that when the next great misadventure befalls Nevada, those responsible will be safely ensconced behind a podium, decrying their handiwork and seeking yet another scapegoat upon whom to pin the tail.

Fraud Allegations Continue to Mount

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against New York and key state officials over the 2019 “Green Light” law, which allowed thousands of illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses while barring federal immigration enforcement agencies from accessing state motor vehicle records. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Albany, was announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi during a Wednesday press conference.

Defendants include Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder. The lawsuit challenges the Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act, which prevents state agencies from sharing motor vehicle data with federal authorities for immigration enforcement.

The law came under fire after reports of fraudulent activity related to the program surfaced. An investigation by the Times Union in 2021 uncovered widespread cheating in the state’s driver permit program, with the fraudulent credentials used by illegal aliens to obtain licenses and access unemployment benefits through the state’s Excluded Worker Fund. That $2.1 billion pandemic-era program provided financial aid to illegal aliens who were ineligible for traditional benefits.

In December, multiple agencies, including the New York inspector general’s office, announced the indictment of five men, including two illegal aliens who later returned to Brazil. Federal charges were filed in Massachusetts, accusing them of orchestrating a scheme by fraudulently obtaining driver’s licenses for over 1,000 illegal aliens.

Prosecutors allege the group charged customers around $1,400 per license, using forged residency documents and falsified driving school certificates. Critics of the Green Light law argue that it has undermined law enforcement efforts and enabled fraud on a massive scale. Former ICE acting director Matthew T. Albence warned in 2020 that withholding motor vehicle records from federal agencies compromised public safety, calling the move politically motivated.

Meanwhile, similar policies have been implemented elsewhere, including Nevada. In 2014, then-Governor Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill 303, allowing illegal aliens to receive driver authorization cards (DACs). Allegations have also surfaced that non-citizens have used these credentials to vote illegally in state and federal elections.

New York officials, including former Governor Andrew Cuomo, have defended the Green Light law as a public safety measure, arguing that ensuring all drivers are licensed and tested benefits the public. However, ongoing fraud allegations and federal scrutiny continue casting doubt on the effectiveness and legality of the policy.

The Fernley Justice Court has confirmed that Jamie Barber has been arrested and charged with open murder in connection with the 2023 shooting death of her ex-husband, Austyn Barber.

Barber maintains that the shooting was an act of self-defense. While initially charged following the incident, the District Attorney’s Office later dropped the case, citing insufficient evidence.

Despite the severity of the charge, Barber is not currently being held in jail as she awaits trial. Her preliminary hearing is in June.

And That May Be Next

RENO, Nev.—It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a man on probation ought to be mindful of his possessions, lest the authorities take a sudden and impolite interest in them. Such wisdom, however, appears to have eluded one Garret Ferguson, whose domestic inventory included an item commonly not associated with quiet, law-abiding living—a cannon.

On February 6, the Nevada State Police’s Parole and Probation Division paid Ferguson a social call to see if he was, as the law puts it, behaving himself. The Reno Police Department and the FBI, always eager for a lively afternoon, joined in.

What they found was a veritable museum of mayhem: sixteen firearms, an assortment of knives fit to outfit a band of cutthroats, a generous supply of machetes, swords worthy of a medieval knight, and, of course, the pièce de résistance—a functioning cannon. Why a man on probation requires artillery is anyone’s guess, but one imagines he was preparing either for an exceedingly aggressive home invasion or an elaborate reenactment of the War of 1812.

Ferguson was promptly arrested and deposited in the Washoe County Jail on contempt of court and violating his probation, proving that while a man may arm himself to the teeth, he cannot outgun the long arm of the law.

The Southern Nevada Building Trades Unions (SNBTU) announced on social media it agreed to construct a complex for the Summerlin Production Studios Project.

“This means thousands of union construction jobs will be created in Nevada,” SNBTU stated in a post on its X account on Friday, February 7.

The $1.8 billion project, a partnership between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Howard Hughes Holdings, consists of 13 buildings, including sound stages, production facilities, and mixed-use developments. The proposed site is near Flamingo Road and Town Center Drive.

Construction of the project is expected to generate approximately 19,000 jobs, with an estimated 15,000 positions created once the studios are fully operational. However, the project’s future depends on whether Nevada lawmakers increase the state’s film tax incentives during the current legislative session.

Two bills introduced in the Nevada Legislature propose increasing tax credits for film and television projects at the Summerlin studios. The first of these, Assembly Bill 238, was recently filed and would provide up to $80 million in tax credits annually to major studios such as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery, starting in 2028.

The program would continue through 2043. To qualify, studios would need to spend at least $400 million in Nevada, ensure that 50 percent of their filming occurs in the state, and complete production within 18 months. A separate version of the bill is expected to be introduced in the Nevada Senate.

Under current law, the state offers $10 million in tax credits, but the proposed bills would raise that figure to between $90 million and $100 million.

Two men are in jail for a fraud scheme in south Reno that scammed victims out of nearly $50,000.

On Monday, deputies with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office responded to a fraud report in which victims claimed they lost $49,300. According to a statement from the Sheriff’s Office, the suspects carried out their scheme by impersonating representatives from Amazon’s fraud department and an officer with the Federal Trade Commission. Even after the initial theft, the scammers continued to pressure the victims for additional payments.

A joint investigation involving Washoe County Patrol Deputies, Washoe County Property Detectives, the Northern Nevada Regional Intelligence Center, and the Human Exploitation and Recovery Operations Unit led to the arrest of the suspects when they arrived in Northern Nevada to collect more money.

On Wednesday, authorities arrested Mohjid Singh and Habri Harmal in connection with the case. They were charged with multiple felonies, including theft of $3,500 or more from an elderly victim, exploiting an older or vulnerable person for $5,000 or greater, and two counts of conspiracy to abuse and exploit or isolate an older or vulnerable person.

The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether the two suspects were involved in similar fraud cases in Northern Nevada.

Federal officials arrested Victor Martinez-Mendoza, a twice-deported illegal alien, at a Las Vegas probation office just days after being sentenced to three years of probation on a drug charge.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took Martinez-Mendoza into custody on January 27 while he was reporting to a parole and probation office. His legal troubles began in May 2024 when Las Vegas Metro police arrested him on domestic battery charges. While held at the Clark County Detention Center, jail officials notified ICE of his undocumented status, following standard procedure for felonies, DUI, domestic violence-related crimes, and theft.

Martinez-Mendoza pleaded no contest in June 2024, agreeing to attend domestic violence counseling and parenting classes and pay a fine. However, by November, he faced new charges of drug trafficking involving cocaine and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. The following month, he pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge.

On January 22, Clark County District Court Judge Jennifer Schwartz sentenced Martinez-Mendoza to probation with the condition that he serve at least three years in jail if he violated the terms. She also warned him to comply with any immigration-related orders.

Days later, ICE arrested him.

Court records show that Martinez-Mendoza had been deported to Mexico twice in 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term. Earlier this month, federal Judge Daniel Albregts ordered him detained pending trial. Despite being in federal custody, a Las Vegas Justice Court judge issued a bench warrant this week for his failure to appear in a hearing related to his original domestic violence case.

ICE has not responded to multiple requests regarding immigration-related arrests in Southern Nevada since Trump began his second term. However, reports indicate that a 14-time deported illegal alien was also recently removed.