CANYON COUNTY, Idaho — One year after a massive law enforcement raid at a Wilder horse track drew national attention, two Idaho women say their families are still dealing with the emotional and lasting effects of what happened that day.
On Oct. 19, 2025, roughly 400 people were detained during an operation at La Catedral Arena connected to a federal gambling investigation.
The operation included families and children, many of whom were zip-tied and held by law enforcement.
Five people were ultimately charged in connection with the gambling investigation, while 105 people were arrested on immigration charges.
For Angela Rodriguez and Kelly Torres, the raid became a turning point in their families' lives.
Angela Rodriguez was at the track with her husband, Abel Gallegos, and their 8-year-old son to watch their horse compete.
After the race, Rodriguez said she returned to her truck to rest. She woke up to the sound of yelling and loud noises.
“I just woke up to loud noises, yelling, and I thought it was just, you know, a movie or something that wasn't real,” Rodriguez said.
WATCH: One year after Wilder raid, two Idaho wives reflect on separation, fear, and hope
Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, said officers moved her and others to an area near the horses, where they were detained and zip-tied.
“They just zip tied us all,” she said. “I kept asking them, like, why were they doing this, and I said I was a U.S. citizen. They didn't care.”
Her family was separated during the operation. About an hour and a half later, Rodriguez said she saw her husband being loaded into a van.
Their son began crying and asking why officers were taking his father.
“My son started crying. ‘Why are they taking my pa?’ And I said, well, you know, he doesn't have residency or citizenship. And he's like, ‘But he's been here forever,’” Rodriguez recalled.
Gallegos had been brought to Nampa from Mexico as a child. After his arrest during the raid, he was eventually deported to Mexico, leaving Rodriguez and their children in Idaho.
A year later, Rodriguez said her son is still processing what he witnessed.
“He's in counseling in school because he's always talking about it,” she said. “They pointed guns at him, told him to put his hands up.”
The separation also forced Rodriguez to rebuild her life financially. Her husband had been the family's main provider, and after his deportation, she left the home where they had lived for 12 years, moved in with her mother and took on the responsibility of supporting her children.
“I've had to be like a single mom. And it's so expensive to take them back and forth,” she said.
Rodriguez said her children spent four months of the summer with their father in Mexico. When it was time to leave, she struggled with the separation all over again.
“I didn't want to leave him,” she said.
Now, seeing her husband in person means traveling to Mexico — a reality Rodriguez said has changed what everyday family life looks like.
Kelly Torres was not at the track when the raid began. She said she received a call from her husband, who was watching the races with their grandson.
Her first concern was whether they were safe.
“The only thing I could think of, like, is my husband safe? Like, where's my husband? Where's my grandbaby?” Torres said.
Her husband, who she said had been working in the United States since he was 16, was taken into immigration custody.
In November 2025, Idaho News 6 was there when more than 20 people arrested during the raid were released from custody in Elmore County following legal challenges to their detention. Torres said her husband was among those released after spending about a month in custody.
For Torres, getting her husband home was an enormous relief after weeks of uncertainty.
“I don't know what I would do because he was everything to me, everything,” she said. “Like, we've been married for 13 years. I mean, he's like the love of my life.”
But the reunion has not erased her fears about the future.
Torres said her husband still has to attend immigration check-ins, leaving her worried that one of those appointments could end in another separation.
“It is scary for me because sometimes, like, I think when I do take him there for check-in, he's not gonna be coming back home,” she said.
Although the women experienced different outcomes after the raid, both said the uncertainty and separation have left a lasting impact on their families.
For Rodriguez, the hope of reuniting her family remains what keeps her going.
“I think that one day we'll all be back together,” she said.
Some families affected by the raid are also pursuing legal action. A lawsuit filed by families alleges their rights were violated during the operation and names federal law enforcement agencies, including immigration authorities, as well as Canyon County and the cities of Caldwell and Nampa.
The case is moving through federal court.
One year later, Rodriguez and Torres are still navigating the consequences of that October morning — one traveling across the border to see her husband, the other holding close the husband she was able to bring home.
Both say they are continuing to hope for a future in which their families can feel secure together again.
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