Court Declassifies Whitefish Police Footage from April Arrest of Venezuelan Man

Footage from the April arrest of a 33-year-old Venezuelan man who had entered the country legally has been declassified by the Flathead County District Court, per a request from the man’s lawyers.

The April 24 arrest of Beker Rengifo del Castillo in Whitefish by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol led to community protests and eventually a lawsuit Rengifo del Castillo filed in August against the city of Whitefish, Police Chief Bridger Kelch and officer Michael Hingiss, who handled the traffic stop that led to his arrest. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of racial profiling.

Previously subject to confidential criminal justice information rules, the now-declassified footage shows Hingiss pulling over Rengifo del Castillo because a taillight was out on his vehicle.

Johnny Skinner, the vice chair of Valley Neighbors’ board, sent the video to the Beacon Thursday afternoon. Valley Neighbors, a nonprofit that exists to welcome immigrants to the Flathead, is also currently suing the state over a law passed in the 2025 legislative session that allows law enforcement officers to check immigration status during lawful stops and requires them to report anyone with an illegal immigration status to a federal immigration agency.

“I understand that this information was made public by going through the court process and that the court declassified this information,” Skinner said.

The footage shows Hingiss — who in July resigned from the Whitefish Police Department to pursue another career opportunity with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office — ask Rengifo del Castillo for his license, insurance and registration. Rengifo del Castillo hands over those items, which are blurred out in the footage. Hingiss returns to his car and phones an unidentified agency.

“Hey, this is Officer Hingiss with the Whitefish Police Department,” Hingiss said in the recording. “Just out with a male that only speaks Spanish, wondering if you want to check him?”

Whitefish City Manager Dana Meeker confirmed Hingiss was speaking with Border Patrol dispatch in the recording. The recording does not have an audible response.

The rest of the footage consists of Hingiss remaining in his police vehicle for around eight minutes. Then, an unidentified law enforcement officer begins speaking to Hingiss.

“I’m just gonna go radio traffic,” the unidentified officer says. “Sounds like he’s a Venezuelan, which might mean he has temporary protective status, but we’ll have to find out.”

“I was just gonna give him a warning, if you want to continue to check him,” Hingiss responds.

The body cam footage shows both officers returning to Rengifo del Castillo’s vehicle. Hingiss returns Rengifo del Castillo’s information to him, telling him he’d be receiving a warning. Rengifo del Castillo exits his car, and the other officer translates Hingiss’ comments in Spanish. A third officer then arrives on the scene before Hingiss leaves.

Rengifo del Castillo was arrested by federal agents and transported to an out-of-state detention center in Tacoma, Wash. He spent nearly a week in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s custody before his release on April 30.

Rengifo del Castillo’s arrest sparked protests from locals and led to a contentious Whitefish City Council meeting May 5, where council members pressed police chief Bridger Kelch to answer for Rengifo del Castillo’s arrest. At that meeting, per previous Beacon reporting, Kelch said the city has policies in place “that strictly prohibit biased-based policing and improper profiling.” City officials issued a statement that “the Whitefish Police Department does not actively seek out immigration violations.” Kelch also said Border Patrol was not called in for interpretation services. Rather, the officer called dispatch, and they sent an officer to the location of the traffic stop.

“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 in May. “The officer contacted dispatch at the Spokane sector [of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection] and had them query the individual’s immigration status.”

After Rengifo del Castillo’s arrest, the Whitefish Police Department established new protocol requiring officers contact a supervisor prior to calling Border Patrol during a traffic stop. The city said it followed that policy during a Border Patrol-involved stop in July. That stop resulted in the arrest of six immigrants.

On Friday, Meeker, the Whitefish city manager, told the Beacon Hingiss had initiated the stop for a taillight being out on the vehicle.

“Beker was issued a warning,” Meeker wrote in an email. “He was not stopped by the officer for immigration enforcement purposes. Rather, Border Patrol Dispatch was contacted by Officer Hingiss during the traffic stop. Border Patrol determined the need to investigate Beker’s immigration status.”

Whitefish’s immigration violations policy states that an officer “should not detain any individual, for any length of time, for a civil violation of federal immigration laws or a related civil warrant.”

“An officer who has a reasonable suspicion that an individual already lawfully contacted or detained has committed a criminal violation of federal immigration law may detain the person for a reasonable period of time in order to contact federal immigration officials to verify whether an immigration violation is a federal civil violation or criminal violation,” the policy continues. “If the violation is a criminal violation, the officer may continue to detain the person for a reasonable period of time if requested by federal immigration officials. No individual who is otherwise ready to be released should continue to be detained only because questions about the individual’s status are unresolved.”

Rengifo del Castillo’s lawsuit against Hingiss, Kelch and the city of Whitefish remains pending.

Andres Haladay, Rengifo del Castillo’s lawyer, said they’re in the pre-trial phase of the lawsuit. That means they are in the early stages of discovery and waiting for a preliminary pre-trial conference with the judge, which will establish a timeline for the trial. Haladay had no public comment about the video’s contents.

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