CANYON COUNTY, Idaho — The Canyon County Sheriff and Caldwell Police Chief aren't too happy with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a joint press release, the two made it clear that the investigation leading to arrests at a Wilder racetrack on Sunday was not an ICE-led immigration raid.
Senior Reporter Don Nelson spoke exclusively with Caldwell Police Chief Rex Ingram to get his take on what went down in Wilder on Sunday.
"I know there's fear. I know there's anxiety. I know that people are thinking the worst right now, that ICE is going to come into their dairies. They're going to come into their fields. They're going to come into their ranches and just do a mass deportation,"
said Ingram. "That is not the case, and I'm going to say that we, you know, we do uphold the rule of law here."
Chief Ingram says he felt compelled to address the statements released by DHS and ICE that caused subsequent confusion throughout his community.
The DHS statement alleges that ICE dismantled a criminal network involving illegal horse racing, animal fighting, and gambling.
Chief Rex Ingram speaks with Idaho News 6 regarding what he called a "misleading" statement from DHS regarding the recent raid in Wilder
"We just want to reiterate that the statement that the Department of Homeland Security put out could not be further from the truth. This was an FBI-initiated operation, not a Department of Homeland Security operation.
But Ingram says I.C.E. agents were asked to get involved as agencies moved in during a horse racing event where hundreds of families were present.
"We asked DHS to accompany us because we anticipated a large population of possibly undocumented people there in attendance."
As we've reported, owners of the track had a permit for horse racing, but betting remains illegal in Idaho.
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ICE ultimately took more than 100 people into custody, who they say are living in the country without proper documentation.
The ACLU told Idaho News 6 that many of those persons have no criminal history.
"There's been a lot of complaints about this place for a while. Neighbors are complaining. Things are happening there," said Chief Ingram. "Most of the things that we get are usually maybe not so credible, but in this case, this was a very credible tip."
On Tuesday, Governor Brad Little sent out a statement saying that illegal gambling operations involving animals often accompany drug trafficking and large sums of money that end up in the hands of cartel bosses. Ingram agrees with the Governor
"This is literally an illegal horse racing operation that has a lot of people in attendance that are wagering bets that are going to a terrorist organization."
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