Protesters Who Blocked Border Patrol Vehicle Plead Guilty to Public Nuisance, Obstruction Charges
The trio, who linked arms to stop a vehicle they believed was transporting a mother and daughter from the Whitefish Customs and Border Protection station, received fines and suspended prison sentences. They painted their actions as a moral cause after the hearing.
By Mariah Thomas
Three protesters who blocked a Border Patrol vehicle in Whitefish in September pleaded guilty in Whitefish Municipal Court Wednesday morning to charges of public nuisance and obstructing a peace officer. All three were fined $785 and received suspended 6-month prison sentences.
Colton Kale Little, 19, of Columbia Falls; Aggie Marie Putnam, 25, of Whitefish; and Leanette Navao Galaz, 39, of Whitefish, were arrested by the Whitefish Police Department Sept. 16 and issued citations for disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and obstructing a police officer. They were originally booked in the Flathead County Detention Center and released the same day.
The trio — members of the local advocacy group Flathead Democracy — linked arms during a protest the morning of Sept. 16, aiming to block a Border Patrol vehicle from leaving Whitefish’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) station. They believed the vehicle was transporting a woman and her 17-year-old daughter who had been arrested and detained after stopping at the scene of a car accident in Evergreen on Sept. 15.
Flathead Democracy has monitored local Border Patrol activity over much of the past year, following President Donald Trump taking office and promising to carry out mass deportations of immigrants.
The group staged a protest outside the Whitefish CBP station last April after the arrest of Beker Rengifo del Castillo, a 33-year-old Venezuelan man who had entered the country legally, during a traffic stop. He was transported to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., before his release on April 30. He has since filed a lawsuit against the city of Whitefish, accusing its police department of racial profiling. In July, CBP arrested eight people over the course of two traffic stops in Whitefish, renewing concerns over the jurisdictional relationship between federal immigration authorities and local police.
The mother and daughter arrested and detained by CBP agents in September were reportedly transported and held at an immigration center in Dilley, Texas. Galaz said the latest update the family’s supporters had received was that they were no longer in detention and had obtained a lawyer to take on their case.
In the wake of the September incident, the Whitefish Police Department issued a press release stating they received “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.
After Wednesday’s court hearing, Galaz said she made a call to WPD asking them to come to intervene.
“We tested the resolve of the Border Patrol agents and quickly found out, as others did across the country, that they were unwilling to arrest us, but more than willing to try and harm our bodies,” Galaz said. “Throughout the night, we spoke with Whitefish officers multiple times, and it became clear that while the Border Patrol had no regard for our safety, the Whitefish Police did.”
Video from the protest shows a Border Patrol vehicle pushing into Galaz at one point as she walks backward into the street. Galaz credited Whitefish Police for stepping between protesters and Border Patrol to make the arrests on the morning of Sept. 16. The Beacon contacted CBP for comment on the matter, but a spokesperson declined.
Galaz and Little, along with their attorney, Jacob Johnson, characterized the group’s actions as a matter of morality.
“I see this as just one, you know, modern, but one iteration of the longstanding tradition of civil disobedience — of disobeying unjust laws and being willing to accept the consequences — because we’re standing up for something that is morally above the law,” Little said.
At the time of the incident, Whitefish police and city officials issued a statement supporting “the right for individuals to peacefully protest within the bounds of the law.” Johnson told reporters Wednesday that regardless of moral correctness, evidence pointed to the fact that his clients had violated the law and would not prevail in a jury trial. That determination led to the change of plea from not guilty to guilty.