A national nonprofit dedicated to clean energy, health care and immigration advocacy will invest millions of dollars over the next several years to make legal resources available to immigrants.

Three legal professors from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in the United States and their students are mobilizing for migrants who cannot afford a defender.

Concerned residents are asking for help as the effects of federal immigration policy reach Nevada. This year, President Donald Trump’s administration moved to crack down on people living in the country illegally, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions said recently that he was directing federal prosecutors to make such cases a priority.

Migrant children might soon be separated from their parents as a matter of course when families enter the United States irregularly, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly told CNN in early March.

On June 16, Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt signed a federal court brief opposing sanctuary cities. In a press release, Laxalt slammed California municipalities that “refuse federal requests to temporarily detain illegal aliens with violent criminal histories,” and complained that “sanctuary cities in California endanger Nevadans.” The press release gave no evidence to back up this rather strong allegation.

At the end of March, Sen. Yvanna Cancela’s proposal to regulate the involvement of Nevada police in federal immigration enforcement died in the Nevada Senate, unable to overcome opposition from the largest police departments in the state. The reason for this opposition was that the bill, SB223, would have been a form of sanctuary legislation. But was it, actually?

The Henderson Detention Center’s contract to house detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement generates $9 million to $10 million per year, a moneymaker city officials steadfastly defend as essential to offsetting costs and bolstering coffers.

Nevada will continue to be ground zero in the immigration debate, potentially for the next two election cycles. Nevada voters may get to choose in the 2018 election whether to amend the state constitution to ban sanctuary cities. Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson is leading the charge and announced last week the creation of Prevent Sanctuary Cities, a political action committee to pursue a ballot question that would prevent Nevada from allowing sanctuary cities.