- Federal judge orders release of 16 migrants after Idaho raid
- Raid at La Catedral Arena detained hundreds, including children, spectators
- Case highlights due process rights, ICE tactics, citizenship, community fear
Sixteen migrants detained last month during an FBI illegal gambling raid on a private racetrack in rural Idaho were released by a federal judge on Wednesday.
US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that keeping the migrants jailed without bond violated their due process rights, the Associated Press reported.
More than 200 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, including the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), descended on La Catedral Arena in Wilder, Idaho, at around 1 pm on Sunday, October 19.
‘Excessive Force’
While the FBI was looking for a handful of individuals involved in illegal parimutuel betting, including the track’s owner, hundreds of spectators who were uninvolved in gambling were detained.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho (ACLU) accused federal agents of using “excessive force” during the raid, including employing rubber bullets and flash-bangs against the crowd of racegoers. The FBI has disputed some of those accounts.
While the actual illegal gambling arrests numbered just four, agents detained “everyone” at the track – more than 400 people — according to immigration lawyer Nikki Ramirez-Smith.
Detainees, including children, had their hands zip-tied, and some children were separated from their parents. Although agents arrested 105 people on immigration-related charges, the majority of those held were US citizens or legal residents. Those who were able to provide documentation were released later that day.
‘Activist Judge’
Winmill noted that of the 16 people he freed on Wednesday, many had lived in the US for decades and lacked any criminal history. Some are married to US citizens or have children who are, he added. He determined they should be released while they wait for their immigration cases to be resolved.
“Treating the detention of noncitizens stopped at or near the border differently from noncitizens who reside within the country is not an anomaly,” Winmill wrote in his ruling. ”Instead, it reflects the long-recognized distinction in our immigration laws and the Constitution that due process protections apply to noncitizens residing within the country but not those stopped at or near the border.”
The ruling drew criticism from immigration authorities. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the Associated Press that “an activist judge is ordering lawbreakers to roam free.”
“The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country,” the department said.
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