Published on: November 21, 2025, at 01:14h.
Updated on: November 21, 2025, at 01:37h.
- Federal judge orders the release of 16 migrants following Idaho raid
- La Catedral Arena raid detained hundreds, including families and spectators
- This case underscores due process rights, ICE practices, citizenship, and community anxieties
A federal judge ordered the release of 16 migrants who were apprehended during an FBI-led operation targeting illegal gambling at a private racetrack in rural Idaho last month.
According to the Associated Press, US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill concluded that holding the migrants without the possibility of bond infringed on their due process rights.
On Sunday, October 19, over 200 law enforcement officials from federal, state, and local agencies—including the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—conducted a raid on La Catedral Arena in Wilder, Idaho, around 1 PM.
Concerns of ‘Excessive Force’
While the FBI targeted specific individuals linked to illegal parimutuel betting, an estimated 400 spectators who had no involvement in gambling were detained.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho (ACLU) accused federal agents of employing “excessive force” during the operation, utilizing rubber bullets and flash-bangs against the assembled crowd. The FBI has contested some of these claims.
Although only four arrests were made for illegal gambling, agents took into custody “everyone” present at the track, as stated by immigration attorney Nikki Ramirez-Smith.
Detainees, including minors, were subjected to zip-tying, with some children separated from their parents. Out of the 105 detained on immigration-related matters, most were US citizens or legal residents. Those who could provide adequate documentation were released later that same day.
Criticism of ‘Activist Judge’
Winmill pointed out that many of the 16 individuals he released on Wednesday had resided in the US for decades and had no criminal records. Several were married to US citizens or had citizen children, he noted. He ruled that they should be released while their immigration cases are pending.
“Differentiating the detention of noncitizens at the border from those already residing in the country is not unusual,” Winmill stated in his decision. “It highlights the well-established differentiation in our immigration laws and the Constitution that grants due process protections to noncitizens living in the country, as opposed to those intercepted at or near the border.”
Immigration authorities criticized the ruling. A representative from the Department of Homeland Security remarked to the Associated Press that “an activist judge is allowing lawbreakers to go free.”
“The Trump administration is committed to reinstating law and order in our immigration system and will persist in its efforts to arrest, detain, and remove undocumented individuals,” the department added.