The number of Mountain West law-enforcement agencies that have agreed to collaborate with the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts has risen significantly since January. Signed agreements, known as 287(g), rose from 10 to 54 in seven Mountain West states.

The ICE arrest of a youth soccer coach at his green card interview sparked headlines and protests in Salt Lake City. When KUER asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement why Jair Celis was arrested, the official statement was that he overstayed his visa. When The Salt Lake Tribune reported on his plight, ICE didn’t respond to their inquiries. Instead, they later got a response from Homeland Security on social media.

Early on in President Donald Trump’s administration, top officials eyed 75 daily immigration arrests across each of the 25 field offices run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, an analysis of daily arrest data through mid-October shows that many field offices (including the one covering Nevada) are failing to meet this threshold.

Advocates are raising concerns about a report from Immigration and Customs Enforcement showing a 31% increase in Nevada detainees since mid-September, with one activist saying detention facilities here are not equipped to house and care for the expanded population.

United States immigration courts face a growing backlog of over 3.5 million cases. More than half of these are asylum applications. This backlog puts pressure on the U.S. asylum offices to adjudicate claims quickly. Nevertheless, asylum seekers often wait for years to receive a hearing.

From JD Vance to film tax credits, antisemitism to ICE detention, panelists tackled some of the biggest issues of the moment at The Nevada Independent’s sixth annual IndyFest conference. For those who missed the ideas festival held Nov. 14-15 at the Durango Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, The Indy is sharing full videos of the discussions.

This year, the immigrant community in Las Vegas has been rocked by the intensification of ICE detentions (just look at the abrupt closure of Broadacres this summer, for example). But Professor Michael Kagan, who runs the UNLV Immigration Clinic, explains to co-host Dayvid Figler why things are likely to get much, much worse next year — and what we can do in the face of it all.

Attorney Adam Crayk expects immigration enforcement in Utah to get much more aggressive. The recent public arrest at the airport that went viral is just one early indicator.