Children among those detained as massive law enforcement raid hit Idaho racetrack
Published at | Updated at
Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman)– At La Catedral Arena in Wilder, a local horse racetrack popular among the Spanish-speaking community west of Boise, families enjoy the free raffles, vendors and food.
It’s common to see hundreds of children there on a race day, said Nikki Ramirez-Smith, a Nampa-based immigration lawyer.
RELATED | FBI raids Wilder property in horse betting investigation. Is ICE involved?
Those children, Ramirez-Smith said, ended up being among the targets of a Sunday raid on La Catedral Arena over what law enforcement called an investigation into illegal horse betting.
“It’s a family event,” Ramirez-Smith told the Idaho Statesman on Sunday. “It’s just like when Americans go to a rodeo. … Some people are gambling, but it’s very few. I would say probably — I mean, I can’t even say how many — but 90% of people there are not gambling.”
Agencies participating in the raid included the FBI, the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security , the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Idaho State Police, the Idaho Department of Correction, the Nampa Police Department and the Caldwell Police Department, according to an FBI press release.
Ramirez-Smith said her phone began “blowing up” with clients begging her to come help them.
She jumped in her car and spent hours with anxious families outside the racetrack. Law enforcement rounded up every person at the racetrack, Ramirez-Smith said, including children.
She said it was difficult to estimate an exact number, but guessed somewhere between 500 and 1,000 people.
“There’s going to be a lot of kids who were severely traumatized by being tied up,” Ramirez-Smith said.
A crowd that materialized at the racetrack, most of whom were seeking detained relatives, grew agitated after an hour with no answers.
“A lot of people were saying: ‘My kids are in there, my spouse is in there. What is happening? My family member is a U.S. citizen. Why are they still in there?’ ” Ramirez-Smith recalled.
The FBI announced shortly before 9 p.m. that it had arrested four people in connection with illegal gambling that allegedly occurred at the racetrack, including Ivan Tellez, 37, of Wilder; Samuel Bejarano, 37, of Nyssa, Oregon; Dayana Fajardo, 39, of Nyssa; and Alejandro Estrada, 56, of Buhl.
A press conference is scheduled for Monday afternoon.