Wilder, Idaho — Pro-Trump Town "Nearly Destroyed" After ICE Raid¶

Date of Incident: October 19, 2025
Published by: Mortui Vivos Docent Intelligence Project
Type: Mass Enforcement Operation — Agricultural Community Impact
Confidence: HIGH

Summary¶

On October 19, 2025, more than 200 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers launched a militarized raid on La Catedral Arena, a county-permitted horse racing track near Wilder, Idaho. The FBI had criminal search warrants for five individuals in a gambling investigation. Instead, agents detained the entire crowd of approximately 400 people — overwhelmingly Latino families at a Sunday afternoon cultural event — arrested 105 on immigration charges, and ultimately deported 75.

Wilder is a town of 1,725 people. 91% voted for Trump in 2024. 60% of its population is Latino. Its agricultural economy depends entirely on Hispanic labor.

The raid removed over 4% of the town's population. Half the students skipped school the next day. Farms that need 300 workers for harvest cannot find replacements. The ACLU calls it "the first major challenge in the second Trump administration to ICE tactics that discriminate based on ethnicity."

The deportation machine does not distinguish between the immigrants harvesting your crops and the immigrants you thought you were voting against. It takes everyone.

What Happened¶

The Event¶

La Catedral Arena is a horse racing track near Wilder that serves as a cultural hub for the area's Latino community. Sunday afternoon races draw 250 to 500 people — families with children, food vendors, games. The venue had a county permit. It had operated openly for years.

The FBI had been investigating an alleged unlicensed gambling operation at the track for approximately four years. On October 19, they had criminal search warrants for five named individuals.

The Raid¶

At approximately 1:00 PM, more than 200 officers from eight agencies descended on the track:

Helicopters overhead
At least five armored vehicles
Snipers positioned on a barn
Drones
Officers in tactical gear with automatic rifles
Flashbang grenades — thrown into vehicles containing people
Rubber bullets fired over the heads of teenagers

All approximately 400 attendees were detained. Officers smashed car windows, sending glass onto children sheltering inside. An eight-year-old picked glass shards from his mouth.

Detainees were sorted by perceived ethnicity into separate lines. The question was not "Were you gambling?" It was "Where were you born?"

Most adults and many teenagers had their hands zip-tied. Some were restrained for four or more hours. Zip ties were applied tight enough to cut skin and cause numbness. Bathroom access was denied — people were forced to urinate outside in view of others. No food or water was provided during the multi-hour detention.

Who Was Detained¶

Of the approximately 400 people detained:

375 were U.S. citizens or legal residents. They were released after proving their status.
105 were arrested on immigration charges.
75 were deported.
5 were arrested on gambling charges — the actual targets of the warrant.

Four months later, the only criminal charges filed are against the original five gambling suspects. No drugs. No weapons. No violence charges. No cartel charges. Just immigration arrests and deportations of people whose only activity that afternoon was watching horse races with their families.

The Force Used Against Families¶

The ACLU's class action complaint and corroborating media reporting document:

Juana Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, was zip-tied for approximately four hours. She could not hold or comfort her three-year-old son — also a U.S. citizen. Officers told the toddler to grip his mother's turned-inside-out pocket instead. The child watched his grandfather taken into immigration custody. He is now afraid of police. His mother is afraid to attend Latino cultural events.

Ivan Popoca, a 40-year-old permanent legal resident, was detained with his 16-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. When the 10-year-old tried to hug her restrained father, an officer grabbed her by the neck, scratching her.

A 14-year-old U.S. citizen was zip-tied while caring for her younger siblings. CBS News obtained and published photographs of the zip ties and bruised wrists.

One man was hit in the head with a rifle butt after telling officers he was a citizen and did not speak Spanish.

Officers used racial slurs directed at Latino detainees and applied greater force to people perceived as Latino than to those who appeared white.

The Evolving Denials¶

FBI initially called allegations of children being zip-tied "completely false"
FBI later revised to say no "young children" were zip-tied
DHS stated "ICE didn't zip tie, restrain, or arrest any children"
Caldwell Police subsequently acknowledged minors had been restrained
CBS News published photographic evidence of zip ties on a 14-year-old

The Detention Pipeline¶

Those arrested were moved far from home and far from legal representation:

Transported to Las Vegas ICE detention facility — over 700 miles from Idaho
Some sent to Wyoming and Utah facilities
Attorneys denied access to clients even after filing official notices of appearance
One attorney reported their client was "repeatedly refused access to a telephone, threatened with 20 years of incarceration"
Phone time shared among dozens of detainees
Rapid out-of-state transfers executed before legal representation could be arranged
Idaho attorneys cannot practice in other states' federal courts

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons's July 2025 Policy¶

A reinterpretation of immigration law eliminated bond hearing eligibility for all undocumented people — removing the distinction between someone apprehended at the border and a grandmother who has lived and worked in Idaho for 30 years. This reversed decades of established practice.

Judge Winmill's Response¶

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the release of 16 Wilder detainees in November 2025, finding:

"The government has identified no information establishing [he] poses a danger or flight risk. Its only apparent interest in detaining [him] is to fulfill an arrest quota of 3,000 immigration arrests per day set by the current administration."

On the policy shift:

"DHS has now abandoned [its adherence to due process], sweeping all noncitizens who entered without inspection into [a] detention net — regardless of how long they have lived here."

Winmill noted that "dozens of district courts across the nation" have rejected this expansion. Only two courts have sided with the government.

The Department of Homeland Security responded: "An activist judge is ordering lawbreakers to roam free."

Agricultural and Economic Collapse¶

Wilder's Workforce Crisis¶

Owyhee Produce, a third-generation agricultural business, needs 300 workers at peak harvest. Approximately 90% of its workforce comes from Mexico. General manager Shay Myers: "If we deported everyone here that's undocumented, we would starve to death."

Seasonal worker Mauricio Sol: "People is afraid... even when they are legally here, they're getting arrested." Applications from seasonal workers are declining. Legal H-2A visa holders report being detained despite proper documentation.

Farmer Chris Gross, who grows sweet corn seed and mint: "We rely on Hispanic labor. Nobody thought something like this could happen here."

David Lincoln, executive director of a rural economic development nonprofit, said the raid "nearly destroyed" the town. The full impact will not be known until planting season begins in spring 2026.

The Numbers¶

75 people deported from a town of 1,725 — over 4% of the total population removed
90% of Idaho dairy workers are foreign-born
50-60% of all U.S. farm labor is undocumented (USDA)
750,000 immigrants have left the U.S. labor force since January 2025 (Pew Research)
Farm bankruptcies doubled in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024
Food prices projected to rise 10% from deportation-driven labor shortages (Peterson Institute)
Harvard economists warn handpicked produce could become "luxury goods"

Beyond Idaho¶

In Pennsylvania, dairy farmers sold their herds because they could not find workers. In California, fields went unharvested because workers stayed home. In southern Texas, a concrete company filed for bankruptcy. The pattern is consistent: immigration enforcement is collapsing the industries that depend on immigrant labor.

Community Destruction¶

The Schools¶

The day after the raid, approximately 20% of students in the Wilder School District were absent — double the normal rate. In a district where over 70% of students are Latino and 11% come from migrant families, Superintendent Alejandro Zamora called it a "huge impact." The district filed a welfare concern certificate with the state to protect its attendance-based funding.

The Fear¶

The raid's impact extends far beyond the 105 people arrested:

Latino families afraid to leave their homes for work, school, errands, or community events
Distrust of neighbors and public spaces
Families who lost their primary breadwinners struggling with rent, utilities, and medical bills
Children experiencing panic attacks

Rebecca De Leon of the ACLU of Idaho: "They don't know if they can trust their neighbors, people who are just at the grocery store with them."

The Relief Effort¶

The Idaho Familias Assistance Fund — organized by the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils, ACLU of Idaho, PODER of Idaho, and Wrest Collective — has raised approximately $57,000 toward a $100,000 goal. It has assisted around 45 families statewide with rent, utilities, medical bills, transportation, and legal fees.

The Mayor's Response¶

Mayor Steve Rhodes dismissed the damage entirely:

"These were not our people."
"What happened out at that track had nothing to do with Wilder."
Insisted there had been "zero impact" on the town.
On the former Latino-majority city council: "They were too busy being Latino and not running the city."

60% of Wilder is Latino. 75 residents were deported. Half the students missed school. The agricultural economy faces collapse. And the mayor says "zero impact."

The ACLU Lawsuit¶

On February 10, 2026, the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho — the first major legal challenge of the second Trump administration targeting ICE's discriminatory enforcement tactics.

The Core Argument¶

The FBI had a criminal warrant for five people at a gambling investigation. Instead, law enforcement conducted a mass detention of 400 people and used it as a "fishing expedition for immigration violations." The timing (peak attendance), the force (200+ officers with military equipment for a nonviolent warrant), and the questioning ("Where were you born?" not "Were you gambling?") demonstrate this was a planned immigration dragnet.

The Legal Strategy¶

Federal agents normally enjoy broad immunity from civil rights lawsuits. The ACLU's novel approach:

Federal agents conspired with state and local officers to carry out the operation
State and local officers can be sued under Section 1983 (civil rights violations)
Post-Civil War conspiracy statutes (Sections 1985 and 1986) — designed to combat organized campaigns of violence against vulnerable populations — apply to the coordinated operation

Key Evidence¶

Internal ICE email celebrated that the operation put "the Boise ICE office on the map"
Officers used racial slurs against Latino detainees
Detainees sorted by ethnicity, not by connection to any criminal activity
Disproportionate force: 200+ officers with military equipment for a nonviolent gambling warrant
Only 5 criminal arrests versus 105 immigration arrests

The Defendants¶

ICE Acting Director Kenneth Porter (Boise), FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls, Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue, Caldwell Police Chief Rex Ingram, Nampa Police Chief Joe Huff, Idaho State Police Director Bill Gardiner, FBI agents Chris Sheehan and Jake Sheridan, plus three government entities and 20 unnamed officers.

ACLU Executive Director Leo Morales: "The sheer number of people who were detained — about 400 — is something we haven't seen anywhere else in the country. It was unnecessary, unreasonable, violent, and racially motivated."

The Structural Contradiction¶

This is a case study in what the deportation machine actually does to the communities that support it.

Wilder voted 91% for Trump. Wilder is 60% Latino. Wilder's economy runs on Hispanic labor. These facts are not contradictory in the lived reality of a small agricultural town — until the machine arrives.

The warrant named five people. The machine took 105. The machine does not care that you voted correctly. It does not care that your farms need workers. It does not distinguish between the immigrants who harvest your onions and the immigrants you thought you were voting against.

75 people are gone. The farms cannot find replacements. The children are afraid of police. The mayor says there was "zero impact."

The full consequences will arrive with planting season.

The Agencies Involved¶

Agency	Role	Personnel
FBI	Criminal warrant execution (gambling)	Salt Lake City Field Office, Boise RA
ICE / ERO	Immigration enforcement	Boise Field Office
Idaho State Police	SWAT support	16-member team (snipers, breachers)
Canyon County Sheriff	SWAT + scene command	18 members; Sheriff on horseback
Caldwell Police	Officers + SWAT	16 officers + SWAT team
Nampa Police	Tactical response	26 officers + 14-member TRT
ATF	Federal support	Present at scene
HSI	Federal support	Present at scene
DEA	Federal support	Present at scene

Total: 200+ officers for a warrant naming 5 people at a nonviolent gambling investigation.

Key Dates¶

Date	Event
~2021	FBI gambling investigation begins
July 8, 2025	Acting ICE Director Lyons eliminates bond hearing eligibility
October 19, 2025	Raid on La Catedral Arena
October 20, 2025	20% of Wilder students absent from school
October 22, 2025	Idaho Capital Sun reports verification failures
October 28, 2025	Spokesman-Review reports school attendance impact
November 19, 2025	Judge Winmill orders release of 16 detainees
January 22, 2026	Boise State Public Radio reports on community fear
February 9, 2026	New York Times investigation published
February 10, 2026	ACLU files class action lawsuit

Sources¶

Published by Mortui Vivos Docent Intelligence Project
Every. Human. Matters.