On Oct. 19, the federal and local law enforcement conducted a massive raid in Wilder, Idaho — a community about 30 miles west of Boise. The FBI arrested five people in connection with what a Homeland Security spokeswoman alleged was “an illegal horse-racing, animal fighting, and gambling enterprise operation.” In addition, ICE detained 105 people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
It didn’t take long for local news media to settle on a narrative. Just after 10:00 a.m. Monday, the Idaho Statesman published an article titled, “Child separation, zip ties and rubber bullets: Inside the Idaho racetrack raid.” KBOI, the local CBS affiliate in Boise, quickly amplified the story.
By Monday afternoon, local NBC affiliate KTVB had published an article titled, “Idaho lawyers, families face more questions than answers after large detainment in Wilder.” The story noted that the ACLU was coordinating with a pro–illegal-immigration organization called PODER of Idaho on a press conference outside the Canyon County Courthouse that afternoon…