BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Three Idaho families who are U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents are suing after they and hundreds of others were detained for hours during an aggressive immigration raid at a rural horse racing track last year.
The families say state and federal law enforcement agencies conspired to use unconstitutional and illegal tactics during the raid, including detaining people because they appeared to be Latino; keeping adults and some children in chains for hours without access to food, water or bathrooms; and searching individuals without reasonable suspicion of a crime.
Similar immigration dragnets marked by heavy use of force have ensnared American citizens and legal residents in other states. An Alabama construction worker and U.S. citizen who says he was detained twice by immigration agents filed a federal lawsuit in his state last year seeking an end to the Trump administration’s workplace raids targeting industries with large immigrant workforces.
Other cases alleging racial profiling and unconstitutional detention have had mixed results in the courts. Last year, a federal judge in California issued a restraining order barring immigration agents from stopping people based solely on their race, language, occupation or location, but the Supreme Court lifted that order in September in a 6-3 decision. Judge Brent Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence that a judicial second-guessing of how immigration officers conduct short stops for questioning chills legal immigration enforcement efforts. But he also suggested stops in which agents use force could still face legal challenges.
The Idaho families were among about 400 people held at the privately owned race track known as La Catedral, located about an hour’s drive west of Boise. The October raid was conducted as part of an FBI-led investigation into allegations of illegal gambling, but only five people at this event were arrested in connection with the investigation. More than 100 others were arrested on suspicion of immigration violations.
The FBI had a criminal search warrant to investigate the games, but the operation was essentially a “fishing expedition for immigration violations,” attorneys with the ACLU of Idaho wrote in the lawsuit.
The races are a popular family-friendly event for the local Latino community, with food vendors on site and games for children held alongside the equestrian events, the ACLU of Idaho wrote in the federal lawsuit.
“Families with young children and elderly grandparents go for a great outdoor activity, looking forward to the moments between races when the kids are allowed to run on the course,” the ACLU wrote. But on October 19, a group of 200 law enforcement officers flooded the property.
“Wearing militarized gear and face coverings, they pointed guns and shouted orders at frightened families. They broke the windows of cars parked on the property, sending glass pouring onto those inside, including children who had taken shelter in cars because of the rain,” the ACLU wrote. “They threw compliant people to the ground and fired rubber bullets at the teenagers’ heads.”
Law enforcement officials from several agencies took part in the raid, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, the Idaho State Police, and local police and sheriff’s deputies. The agencies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some of the officers used racial epithets for Latinos and one man was hit in the head with the butt of a rifle after he told an officer he was a citizen and did not speak Spanish, according to the lawsuit. Others were left in zip ties so tight that their skin was torn or their hands were mutilated.
Shortly after the raid, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said that “ICE dismantled an illegal horse racing, animal fighting, and gambling enterprise operation.” However, court documents do not mention any animal fighting and the track had a horse racing licence. McLaughlin later added that ICE does not restrain or detain children.
Five families interviewed by The Associated Press after the raid said children as young as 11 were restrained with ties, and several children were separated from family members for hours. Juana Rodriguez, one of the main plaintiffs in the case, told the AP in October that her hands were zip-tied for nearly four hours, leaving her unable to lift and care for her 3-year-old son. Law enforcement agents refused to let her take the child’s snacks from her vehicle even though he was crying from hunger and thirst, according to the lawsuit.
Some detainees were denied bathroom access, forcing them to urinate outside in view of other detainees and law enforcement, according to the lawsuit.
None of the families were questioned about the gambling, and all were eventually released after proving they were citizens or legal permanent residents. They want a federal judge to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of other legal residents who were also detained, and to declare that law enforcement agencies violated federal law and the constitutional rights of the detainees. They also want to be paid for damages in an amount to be proven during the trial.