City of Whitefish Settles Racial Profiling Suit for $90,000
The city admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement with Beker Rengifo del Castillo, a Venezuelan immigrant who had entered the country legally and was detained by Border Patrol after a traffic stop initiated by the Whitefish police
By MARIAH THOMAS & LAUREN FRICK
The city of Whitefish will pay $90,000 to settle a lawsuit filed last August by Beker Rengifo del Castillo, a Venezuelan man who had previously accused the city, police chief and a former Whitefish police officer of racial profiling following a Whitefish police-initiated traffic stop that led to a week in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Under the terms of the agreement with Rengifo del Castillo, the city of Whitefish did not admit to any wrongdoing and in a press release release said the $90,000 sum would be covered by the city’s insurance provider, Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority.
This means no city funds will be needed to cover the settlement and “any impact to taxpayers would only be the result of an increase in our insurance premiums in the future,” City Manager Dana Meeker said. However, the city doesn’t anticipate the settlement to cause “a direct increase in premiums.”
“The City agreed to settle because the cost of continuing litigation far exceeded the agreed upon settlement amount,” Meeker said.
The settlement comes a year — almost to the day — after Rengifo del Castillo’s April 24, 2025, traffic stop, initiated by the Whitefish police. That stop resulted in Rengifo del Castillo being taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol and then transported to the ICE Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., a process which resulted in a “horrific and traumatic experience,” per the initial court filing. Rengifo del Castillo had entered the country legally under a Biden-era program that allowed thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans into the U.S. to escape political or environmental upheaval in their home countries.
In the weeks and months after Rengifo del Castillo’s arrest, grassroots demonstrations and rallies at the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol station in Whitefish became a daily reminder of the polarizing immigration enforcement blitz sweeping the nation. Meanwhile, appearing before city council after the arrest, local police officials defended the department’s immigration enforcement policies and said it has firm rules in place “that strictly prohibit biased-based policing and improper profiling.” City officials also issued a statement at the time clarifying that “the Whitefish Police Department does not actively seek out immigration violations.”
While the case didn’t result in a finding against the city, it sends a message to local law enforcement agencies across Montana about the importance of properly handling immigration investigations, said Andres Haladay, a senior staff attorney with Upper Seven Law, the firm representing Rengifo del Castillo.
“When police conduct immigration investigations based on the color of someone’s skin or the language they speak, it violates the constitution, breaches community trust and wastes taxpayer dollars,” Haladay said.
The lawsuit also named as defendants police chief Bridger Kelch and officer Michael Hingiss, who conducted the stop. The city said both officers were covered under its insurance and, in its Tuesday press release, said it “stands firmly behind its local law enforcement officers who are tasked with performing an increasingly difficult job in rapidly changing circumstances, both on a state and federal level.”
Rengifo del Castillo’s lawsuit also resulted in a Montana Human Rights Bureau investigation, which Haladay said is closed. Per an April 7 court order from Judge William Mercer, under the Montana Human Rights Act, some of Rengifo del Castillo’s claims had to be looked at by the state’s Human Rights Bureau before they could be adjudicated in a court.
The Beacon requested the file from that investigation on April 23. Before the Human Rights Bureau makes its files public, it must first receive consent from the involved parties — a process that was ongoing as of press time.