Agents stand at La Catedral Arena in Wilder, Idaho, on the evening of Oct. 19, 2025. Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, were there as part of an investigation into alleged illegal horse betting. | Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman WILDER (Idaho Statesman) — The Canyon County Sheriff’s Office and Caldwell Police Department released a joint statement Wednesday saying they wanted to clarify the situation around Sunday’s raid in Wilder, which was not an ICE-led operation, despite what the Department of Homeland Security indicated. In a statement to the media Tuesday, Homeland Security said that “ICE dismantled an illegal horse-racing, animal fighting, and a gambling enterprise operation” and that “as part of the operation ICE law enforcement officers arrested 105 illegal aliens.” The raid at La Catedral Arena, where four people were arrested as part of an FBI criminal investigation on alleged illegal gambling, was in fact led by the FBI’s Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crime and Gang Task Force, according to Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue and Caldwell Police Chief Rex Ingram. RELATED | FBI raids Wilder property in horse betting investigation. Is ICE involved? The FBI has said several times that it was the lead agency and that ICE was there “as part of the broader federal team to process individuals who were found to have potential immigration violations.” In their joint statement, Donahue and Ingram criticized Homeland Security for putting out a statement that was “deeply misleading to the public.” “To be clear, this was not an ICE-led enforcement action,” the pair stated. “The statement released by DHS yesterday claiming responsibility for dismantling a criminal organization was completely false and a serious misrepresentation of the facts.” RELATED | ICE arrests 105 people in southwest Idaho raid, Department of Homeland Security says RELATED | After FBI raid in southwest Idaho, advocates denounce ‘military-style’ tactics and detaining kids Roughly 200 law enforcement agents were present at the racetrack, including Caldwell and Nampa police, and Canyon County officers, who were part of the task force. There were 10 agencies represented in total. Five people have been charged in the gambling operation, after a fifth was arrested Monday night, and Homeland Security said ICE agents took 105 people into custody over their immigration status. Donahue and Ingram said they normally would limit any comments on “active federal investigations,” but “we feel it’s important to address the confusion caused by recent public statements from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).” They also noted that questions about the raid and cases should be directed to the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office. “Our agencies remain committed to supporting the rule of law within our jurisdictions, regardless of whether they are state, local, or federal operations,” they said in the statement. The post Canyon sheriff, Caldwell police chief: DHS statement on raid ‘deeply misleading’ appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com
Canyon sheriff, Caldwell police chief: DHS statement on raid ‘deeply misleading’
