Venezuelan Man Files Lawsuit Against City of Whitefish, Police Chief Over Traffic Stop that Led to ICE Detention
The suit claims Beker Rengifo del Castillo was a victim of racial profiling. Whitefish city officials declined to comment on the the active litigation.
By Mariah Thomas
A 33-year-old Venezuelan man arrested by Border Patrol following a Whitefish traffic stop filed a lawsuit against the city of Whitefish, Police Chief Bridger Kelch and officer Michael Hingiss, who handled the stop.
Beker Rengifo del Castillo’s Monday filing accuses the defendants of “racial profiling” that resulted in a “horrific and traumatic experience” in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula. Upper Seven Law, a nonprofit law firm, will represent Rengifo del Castillo.
Angela Jacobs, the attorney for the city of Whitefish, said in an email she could not comment on active litigation.
Rengifo del Castillo had entered the country legally under a Biden-era program that allowed thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to come into the U.S. to escape political or environmental upheaval at home, the complaint stated. Despite his legal status, Rengifo del Castillo was taken into Border Patrol custody and transported to the ICE Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., following an April 24 traffic stop initiated by the Whitefish police. He remained there until April 30.
The lawsuit alleges Hingiss called Border Patrol to investigate Rengifo del Castillo’s immigration status because he spoke Spanish during the stop. It also states Hingiss did so despite Rengifo del Castillo’s presentation of a REAL ID compliant driver’s license. Rengifo del Castillo’s attorney wrote that an agent with Customs and Border Patrol acknowledged Rengifo del Castillo might have legal status upon arrival at the traffic stop.
“You can’t detain someone just for being non-white and speaking Spanish, especially when they hand you a valid REAL ID,” said Andres Haladay, a senior staff attorney at Upper Seven Law. “This apparent racial profiling violates both the Montana Constitution and the United States Constitution, and damages trust between community members and local law enforcement.”
Rengifo del Castillo’s attorney argues the grounds for the arrest were false and violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The suit also alleges racial profiling violated Rengifo del Castillo’s Fourteenth Amendment rights. He is seeking actual, general and punitive damages.
At the time, Rengifo del Castillo’s arrest sparked protests from locals. It also led to a contentious Whitefish city council meeting on May 5, where council members pressed Kelch to answer for Rengifo del Castillo’s arrest. At that meeting, Kelch said the police department did not involve Border Patrol in Rengifo del Castillo’s arrest for interpretation services.
“In this situation there was a question about immigration status due to a number of factors under reasonable suspicion that the [Whitefish Police Department] officer had,” Kelch said at that meeting.
Kelch also told city council that police would ensure a supervisor was notified before Border Patrol involvement in the future.
The department said it followed that policy during a Border Patrol-involved traffic stop in mid-July. That stop resulted in the arrest of six immigrants.
Valley Neighbors, a nonprofit that works to welcome immigrants to the Flathead Valley, released a statement Tuesday morning supporting Rengifo del Castillo’s filing.
“The officer’s actions, as well as Whitefish Police Department’s continued collaboration with Border Patrol, erode public trust in law enforcement and degrade public safety,” the statement read. “We have already seen an increased hesitancy in local immigrant populations as well as non-immigrant community members in reporting crime to law enforcement. Actions such as those undertaken on April 24 make us all less safe.”