Protesters Arrested and Cited for Blocking U.S. Border Patrol Vehicle in Whitefish
Three members of the local immigrant rights advocacy group Flathead Democracy were arrested on Sept. 16 and released the same day with citations from the City of Whitefish
By Maggie Dresser & Mariah Thomas
Three protesters who authorities say blocked traffic and linked arms to prevent law enforcement agents from leaving the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Whitefish were arrested Tuesday morning for obstructing the roadway, according to the Whitefish Police Department.
Colton Kale Little, 19, of Columbia Falls; Aggie Marie Putnam, 25, of Whitefish; and Leanette Naavo Galaz, 39, of Whitefish, were booked in the Flathead County Detention Center on Sept. 16 and released the same day. Each individual was issued a citation from the City of Whitefish for disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and obstructing a peace officer.
According to a press release from WPD, officers responded to the local CBP station shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday after receiving “a call from an individual stating that there was going to be civil unrest, and protesters were planning to attempt to prevent U.S. Border Patrol from leaving their facility” on U.S. Highway 93 West.
“Officers arrived on scene and directed protesters to not block vehicles from leaving the U.S. Border Patrol facility,” the release states. “In response, three protesters locked arms intending to prohibit the vehicle from leaving. All three individuals were arrested without incident and transported to the Flathead County Detention Center.”
The demonstrators who were arrested are members of the local advocacy group Flathead Democracy, which organized the protest the night of Sunday, Sept. 15, after receiving word that a woman and her 17-year-old daughter had been arrested and detained after stopping at the scene of a car accident at the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Montana Highway 35 in Evergreen.
“They were taken to the Border Patrol office in Whitefish, where Flathead Democracy and other concerned community members have been protesting since 9:30 p.m. Protesters are still gathered there now,” according to an email update that Flathead Democracy sent to local journalists at 9 a.m. on Sept. 15.
The group has been hyper vigilant in its monitoring of Border Patrol-involved traffic stops since earlier this year, when President Donald Trump took office and promised to carry out mass deportations of immigrants.
In April, the group stood sentry outside the Whitefish CBP station after Beker Rengifo del Castillo, a 33-year-old Venezuelan man who had entered the country legally, was arrested by CBP agents in Whitefish after a traffic stop. He was transported to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., before being released April 30. Rengifo del Castillo subsequently filed a lawsuit against the city, accusing its police department of racial profiling.
In July, the CBP arrested eight people over the course of two traffic stops in Whitefish, renewing concerns over the complicated jurisdictional relationship between federal immigration authorities and local police.
According to Flathead Democracy, the Sunday night arrests that prompted the protest involved a mother and her daughter who lived in the community. Describing the mother and daughter as an “immigrant family,” members of Flathead Democracy staged the round-the-clock protest in hopes of preventing an out-of-state extradition similar to Rengifo del Castillo’s.
A CBP spokesperson, Edward Dean, said federal agents responded to an incident on Sept. 14 “in the Whitefish area of responsibility” following a request for assistance from Montana Highway Patrol. During that response, Border Patrol agents “encountered and apprehended five individuals who, based on interviews and records checks were found to have no legal status in the United States.”
Citing CBP policies regarding the disclosure of sensitive information, Dean did not release additional details about the five individuals’ legal status, apprehension, detention, or whether they’d been transported to another facility.
“CBP is committed to transparency while upholding the privacy and security of individuals. Due to privacy and security protocols, CBP does not disclose specific details about individual detention cases, including identities, roles, or personal circumstances of those apprehended,” Dean said in an emailed statement.
According to the Whitefish citation, one of the protesters, Little, was warned by WPD officers that he would be arrested if he and other protesters blocked the driveway, which they continued to do by linking arms to prevent law enforcement from passing.
Prior to the arrest, WPD officers responded to the same location at 1335 U.S. Highway 93 and Nelson Lane multiple times for noise and traffic obstruction complaints, according to the city’s press release.
Another report alleged a protester had thrown plywood at a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle — an allegation that Whitefish officials said is currently under investigation.
Whitefish police and city officials also issued a statement supporting “the right for individuals to peacefully protest within the bounds of the law”; however, obstruction of public or private roadway access is a violation of city ordinance and state law.