ACLU's Lawsuit Over ICE Raid at an Idaho Racetrack Could Be a Game Changer

[Nevilledog]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/aclu-lawsuit-wilder-idaho-ice-raid-la-catedral-racetrack/


In a small Idaho town, a 10-year-old girl I’ll call A.S.P. was cozied up in her family’s pickup truck outside La Catedral racetrack, where she and her dad were looking forward to a day of festivities. It was a Sunday in October, and families in this predominantly Latino town, Wilder, were there to cheer on the horses, play games, snack on tacos, and sip horchata, as they often do on Sundays in the summer and early fall.

But today, a military-style helicopter was circling over the field. In the early afternoon, about 200 officers from a range of federal, state, and local agencies descended on the racetrack in full tactical gear, most carrying automatic rifles. They pointed their guns and screamed at terrified families, according to a lawsuit the ACLU filed on Tuesday; some officers shattered windows and dragged people out of their vehicles. Young A.S.P. emerged from the pickup in tears and tried to hug her dad, Ivan Popoca, a Latino lawful permanent resident who has lived in Idaho most of his life. But officers pushed him away and grabbed his daughter by the neck, scratching her, according to the suit.

Over the next four hours, the officers would temporarily detain hundreds of people who’d come to watch the races, in an immigration raid that made headlines but failed to appear on many people’s radar because it happened around the same time as other high-profile immigration operations in bigger cities like Chicago.

The authorities at the racetrack had a search warrant and criminal warrants to arrest five people, including the track owner, whom they accused of facilitating illegal gambling. But the sweep was much broader. The officers rounded up the entire crowd, some 400 people, zip-tying most adults and many teenagers and forcing just about everyone onto the track, where, according to the suit, they sorted people by perceived immigration status, typically based on skin color. They arrested 105 people for immigration violations.

*snip*