ICE Raid at Idaho Racetrack Sparks Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit

• Hundreds detained during Idaho racetrack gambling investigation
  
• Lawsuit alleges racial profiling and unconstitutional searches
  
• City officials named as defendants in federal case

A raid last October by federal and local law enforcement on a licensed, private racetrack in Idaho, complete with rubber bullets and flash-bangs, has sparked a civil rights lawsuit that claims constitutional rights were violated.

At about 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 19, more than 200 federal, state, and local officers, including the FBI and ICE, descended on La Catedral Arena in Wilder, rural Idaho, about an hour’s drive from Boise.

The event is described in the lawsuit as a popular, family-friendly outing for the area’s Latino community, with vendors and children’s activities alongside the races.

The FBI was looking for a handful of individuals involved in illegal parimutuel betting. That included the track’s owner, Ivan Tellez, who had a license to run races but not to operate gambling. Five people were ultimately arrested on gambling charges, including Tellez.

But around 400 spectators who were uninvolved in the gambling investigation were swept up in the dragnet.

Zip-Tied Children

The federal lawsuit, filed by three families who are US citizens and lawful permanent residents, claims unconstitutional tactics were used. These included detaining people because they appeared Latino, searching attendees without individualized suspicion, and keeping adults and children in zip ties for hours while limiting access to bathrooms, food, and water, according to the suit.

“Wearing militarized gear and face coverings, they pointed guns and screamed orders at frightened families,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho (ACLU) stated in the lawsuit.

“The real objective was to deport hundreds of innocent people, no matter the human cost, while spreading terror throughout the Latine community,” he added.

The city of Nampa and the Nampa police chief are also named as defendants. Nampa Mayor Rick Hogaboam told AP the city would follow the legal process “with integrity and professionalism.”

Joint operations between federal agencies are routine in complex investigations, but ICE’s involvement in an illegal gambling raid is unusual.

‘Common Sense’

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in November: “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 lawsuit seeks to have the case certified as a class action so it would cover the hundreds of people detained during the raid.

It asks the court to declare that law enforcement violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and racial discrimination. It also requests injunctive relief to prevent similar operations in the future, along with monetary damages to be determined at trial.