U.S. citizens and legal residents sue over aggressive immigration raid at Idaho horse racing track

BOISE, Idaho — Three Idaho families who are U.S. citizens and lawful 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 tactics during the raid, including detaining people because they appeared to be Latino; keeping adults and some children in zip ties for hours without access to food, water or bathrooms; and searching individuals without reasonable suspicion of a crime.

Similar immigration dragnets marked by a heavy use of force have entangled U.S. 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 demanding an end to Trump administration workplace raids targeting industries with large immigrant workforces.

Other lawsuits 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 solely based on their race, language, job or location, but the Supreme Court lifted that order in September in a 6-3 ruling. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence that judicial second-guessing of how immigration officers carry out brief stops for questioning would chill lawful immigration enforcement efforts. But he also suggested stops by agents using force could still face legal challenges.

Idaho raid targeted an event popular among local Latino families

The Idaho families were among roughly 400 people detained at the privately owned race track known as La Catedral, about an hour's drive west of Boise. The October raid came amid an FBI-led investigation into allegations of illegal gambling, but only five people at the 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 for the gambling investigation, but the operation was essentially a ''fishing expedition for immigration violations,'' attorneys with the ACLU of Idaho wrote in the lawsuit.

''Families with young children and elderly grandparents go for a nice outdoor activity, looking forward to the moments between races when kids are allowed to run down the track," the ACLU wrote. But on Oct. 19, a swarm of 200 law enforcement officers flooded the property.

''Wearing militarized gear and face coverings, they pointed guns and screamed orders at frightened families," the ACLU wrote.

Multiple agencies took part in the raid, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, Idaho State Police, and local police and sheriff's deputies.

''We take this matter seriously and are committed to following the legal process with integrity and professionalism,'' said Nampa Mayor Rick Hogaboam. The city and the Nampa Police Chief are both named as defendants. The FBI and the Canyon County Sheriff's Office declined to comment. Other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said afterward that ''ICE dismantled an illegal horse-racing, animal fighting, and a gambling enterprise operation.'' However, court documents make no mention of animal fighting, and the track had a horse-racing license. McLaughlin later added that ICE did not restrain or arrest children.

Some of the officers used racial epithets for Latinos, and used more force against people perceived to be Latino than they did against detainees who appeared to be white, said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, speaking at a news conference Tuesday. Some detainees were left in zip ties so tight their skin was cut or their hands went numb. Others were denied bathroom access, forcing them to urinate outside in view of others, according to the lawsuit.

''I have never seen so much direct evidence of racial targeting, and ethnic targeting, as I have in this case,'' Borchetta said.

Five families later told The Associated Press that kids as young as 11 were restrained, and children were separated from family members for hours. Juana Rodriguez, one of the lawsuit's lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in October that her hands were zip-tied for almost four hours, leaving her unable to pick up and care for her 3-year-old son.

None of the families were questioned about gambling, and they were released after proving citizenship or lawful permanent residency. They want a federal judge to make the lawsuit a class action, and to declare that the law enforcement agencies violated federal law and the constitutional rights of detainees. They also want to be paid for damages in an amount to be proven at trial.

Families say law enforcement agencies conspired to violate civil rights

Section 1983 gives individuals the right to sue state and local government employees for civil rights violations. Section 1985 makes it illegal for two or more people to conspire to interfere with someone's civil rights, and Section 1986 says individuals can be held liable for damages if they know about a conspiracy to violate civil rights and they neglect to try to stop the wrongful act, despite having the power to do so.

''I want to be clear about what this was: A coordinated government scheme to weaponize an arrest warrant as cover for racial profiling on a massive scale,'' said Paul Carlos Southwick, the ACLU of Idaho legal director. ''The real objective was to deport hundreds of innocent people, no matter the human cost, while spreading terror throughout the Latine community.''

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