WILDER (InvestigateWest) — On a Sunday afternoon in October, a man went to the horse racetrack in Wilder, a small Idaho farming town, hoping to unwind after a long week at his construction job. But the La Catedral Arena — a popular spot for Latino families to spend time together and watch races — quickly devolved into chaos as federal agents stormed the event.
The man, who is undocumented, hid as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sprayed rubber bullets at the crowd, said Rachel Vasquez, one of his relatives. Eventually, he was caught and placed in a large white van.
The man’s family was unsure where he was being held or how to contact him and couldn’t find him on the ICE website for locating detained people. After a full day of worrying and no word from him, Vasquez tracked the location on his phone to the Boise ICE office, where she went herself to get answers. But she and other families were shut out of the office. Vasquez spoke to InvestigateWest on the condition that her relative would not be named, citing concerns about impacting his immigration case…