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Almost 200 Nevada Families Call On AG Adam Laxalt To Withdraw State From Anti-Immigrant Lawsuit

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Yesterday, almost 200 Nevada families took over the office of state Attorney General Adam Laxalt to demand he withdraw the state from the anti-immigrant lawsuit challenging President Obama’s 2014 immigration actions.

The sheer size of the protest, organized by members of Las Vegas Culinary Union and PLAN, was called “unprecedented” by state legislators who attended in support of Nevada’s immigrant families.

“We usually hear these voices in committee meetings or during press conferences,” State Sen. Ruben Kihuen told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “But I’ve never seen anything like this before. It just shows the high importance of this issue about immigration.”

The activists had hoped to have a one-on-one meeting with Laxalt, but his spokesperson claimed he’d left his office shortly before the protest in order to attend another meeting. PLAN organizers cried foul.

“He was hiding from us,” the group’s executive director told the Gazette Journal. Interesting to note that last month, Laxalt did manage to travel all the way from Nevada to Washington D.C. to testify at an anti-immigrant GOP House hearing challenging the constitutionality of Obama’s actions. But no time to meet with his own constituents back at home?

Protesters later blocked traffic directly in front of Laxalt’s office in an act of civil disobedience, chanting “We will not be moved!” and “A people united will never be conquered!” Some even carried “Deport Laxalt!” signs, complete with deportation order for separating Nevada’s immigrant families and wasting state resources.

Laxalt has been under fire from immigrant families for adding Nevada to the lawsuit against immigration action without so much as consulting the state’s Latino governor, Brian Sandoval, beforehand.

Naturally, Laxalt’s move has been praised by the national anti-immigrant crowd. But in a state that is 27% Latino, his actions could have dangerous political ramifications in the near-future.

A Storify of the Nevada action below.