VICTOR JOECKS: Deport illegal immigrant sex offenders

Democrats want to protect illegal immigrant sex offenders from deportation. Unfortunately, that’s not a Babylon Bee headline.

Last month, Sergio Reyes Rojas received a 10-to-25-year prison sentence for lewdness with a child under 16 and kidnapping. Police say that the former Las Vegas youth soccer coach offered a 14-year-old girl a ride home and then sexually assaulted her. He pleaded guilty in April.

“What happened in this case is every parent’s worst nightmare,” District Judge Danielle Pieper said.

Reyes Rojas is an illegal immigrant. He should not be in this country. This case provides one obvious reason why the left’s opposition to securing the border is objectionable. An illegal immigrant can’t sexually assault an underage girl in Las Vegas when he’s outside the United States.

But now that Reyes Rojas has been caught, surely every elected Democrat would want him deported, right?

Don’t count on it. In February 2025, Democrat gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Aaron Ford released a document labeled “Model Immigration Policies.” If implemented, the policies would have turned Nevada into a sanctuary state. While there’s not a formal definition of that term, sanctuary states don’t cooperate with ICE to deport illegal immigrants who have been arrested.

Nevada law enforcement “will not detain, continue to detain, delay release or arrest any person in response to an administrative warrant,” the “model” policies state.

They don’t even require law enforcement to notify federal officials if an illegal immigrant committed a violent crime. Further, “nothing in the model policies prohibits Nevada law enforcement agencies from adopting additional restrictions on assisting federal immigration agents.”

In other words, Ford pushed a policy that could have protected “every parent’s worst nightmare” from being deported. I asked Ford’s office about this. No response. Ford refused to say if an illegal immigrant who kidnapped and sexually abused a minor should be deported.

What a contrast to Gov. Joe Lombardo, who wants such criminals deported. After Ford put out his sanctuary state policies, Lombardo rejected them. Then, after he talked with Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill, the Metropolitan Police Department rejoined the 287(g) program, which helps ICE deport illegal aliens who’ve been arrested.

Republican attorney general candidate Adriana Guzmán Fralick said she would rescind Ford’s model policies. Further, Reyes Rojas “is a sex offender who should be deported,” she said. State Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro is the Democrat nominee for attorney general. Cannizzaro refused to say if she wanted this sex offender to be deported after his prison term is over.

This isn’t merely an academic discussion. Recently, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and two others on a panel pardoned an illegal immigrant who had been convicted of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl. That man was facing deportation. The pardon could help him remain in the country.

If you want illegal immigrant sex offenders to be deported, don’t vote for Ford and Cannizzaro.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.