Police arrested four protesters at the Wilder FBI-ICE raid. Here’s why
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Wilder racetrack raid
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Avalon Hardy, a local human rights activist, yelled at the law enforcement officers pushing her and a crowd of protesters back at an October raid in Wilder that was led by the FBI but included ICE:
“Stop kicking my (expletive) broken ankle,” Hardy cried out, according to a video shared with the Idaho Statesman.
Caldwell Police Sgt. Andrew Holmes told her she was under arrest and lunged for her sweater, pulling it off, according to a probable cause affidavit and the video. In court documents, Holmes said he tripped Hardy to help other officers arrest her. Hardy’s daughter screamed beside her in the video, “No, no, no … that’s my mom!”
The FBI — with the help of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other police agencies — raided a Wilder racetrack on Oct. 19, arresting four people who face illegal gambling charges. Police arrested a fifth the next day in Meridian.
The track owner had a permit to hold horse races, but not to allow gambling.
ICE agents arrested more than 100 immigrants, including some who were allowed to be in the U.S, according to Nikki Ramirez-Smith, a Nampa-based immigration lawyer. Human rights advocates have criticized the raid after some children were zip-tied and families were separated, and the operation sparked fear in the community.
What hasn’t been broadly reported is that the officers also arrested four protesters, including Hardy.
A local pro-Palestine group, the People’s Liberated University, said on social media that those arrests were violent, and court documents indicate that police used force. For example, Caldwell Police Officer Dwight Penkey commented that he and other officers “guided” a protester “to the ground.” Caldwell Detective Matthew Isaak wrote that one protester was “physically taken to the ground.”
Asked about this phrasing, Caldwell Police Department spokesperson Char Jackson said that “because this is an FBI-led case, in addition to potential litigation, we are not commenting or releasing any further information.” The department denied a records request for any use-of-force reports filed by officers about the Wilder raid, saying it had no responsive records.
The operation also included Nampa police, the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office and Idaho State Police.
The four protesters were charged with misdemeanor resisting or obstructing officers, according to online court records. One was also charged with felony battery on a peace officer for allegedly biting a Canyon County sheriff’s deputy.
Hardy is known in Boise for a 2022 arrest in front of the Idaho Capitol at a protest regarding the overturning of Roe v. Wade, at which law enforcement said she shoved an officer who wasn’t in uniform. Magistrate Judge Michael Dean dismissed the case midtrial in 2023 when video evidence showed she accidentally brushed against the officer.
Hardy later sued, alleging unlawful arrest and other offenses, but Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill declared a mistrial this year after the Idaho State Police didn’t turn over some video evidence to Hardy.
Expletives and arrests
Isaak, the Caldwell detective, was working on the southeast side of La Catedral Arena in Wilder, where hundreds of law enforcement members swooped in on the final horse race of the season. Inside the arena, agents detained and zip-tied people, including some children. The Caldwell Police Department is the only agency so far to acknowledge that it zip-tied minors.
Outside, Isaak said he saw a crowd of 30 people, filming, shouting expletives and “threatening to physically fight officers,” he wrote in a court filing. He radioed for help, and officers formed a “skirmish line.”
One protester refused to disperse, according to court filings. Another protester, Hardy, was “intentionally obstructing the movement of the skirmish line and interfering with officers,” Holmes wrote.
A third protester stood in between a driver’s door and the open seat of a SWAT vehicle, so that it couldn’t close, Penkey said. He pulled her away by her arm. The fourth was “clenching her fists and attempting to strike an officer,” court documents said.
The Idaho State Public Defender’s Office, which is representing all four of the Wilder protesters, declined to comment because the agency does not discuss specific cases.
Why were the protesters there?
For Hardy, immigration hits close to home. Her partner is from Mexico, arriving to the U.S. as a teenager with his family. Her partner’s father worked and saved money so that the family could have proper documentation, Hardy told the Statesman.
“My family, my kids and all that stuff come from immigrants,” she said in a phone interview.
Hardy was supposed to be at the races that day, she said. Her partner helped a friend with his horses in the past, and she said she had no idea there was gambling going on at the races.
But that day, the family slept in. The friend with the horses called, telling them not to come after the raid started. Hardy went anyway, arriving to helicopters and drones flying overhead, and a crowd of people at the gates, she said.
People screamed insults at law enforcement and lobbed questions about the whereabouts and well-being of children, according to the video shared with the Statesman. They were met largely with silence.
Caldwell police officers who were part of the operation weren’t providing anyone with answers, Hardy said. She and others bypassed yellow police tape and stepped inside the gate, and a bunch of people followed, according to the video and what Hardy told the Statesman.
She stopped at an ambulance and met another officer, but still couldn’t figure out what was happening, and the video then showed Hardy and others continuing down a dirt path until they came before a small group of law enforcement.
The tirade of insults and questions continued as protesters asked to see a warrant and criticized U.S. citizens being detained. A few officers, clad in all black, walked over, and Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue rode over on horseback, the video showed.
Eventually more police, including a K-9, joined the fray, and law enforcement officers shouted for the crowd to move back, video footage showed.
Lt. Scott Crupper, with the Caldwell Police Department, pushed his baton into Hardy’s chest, according to video footage. Another officer, masked and in camouflage, lifted his gun. “Get back now!” he said, according to the footage. The pops and smoke of what Hardy called “pepper balls” rang out.
Hardy then was arrested, she said. A pretrial conference is set for Dec. 11, according to online court records.
Hardy said she went to the emergency room a couple of days after she was released from jail, and doctors found a bruised sternum and ribs.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve been arrested for standing up for basic human rights,” Hardy said. “Our system is broken, and if people don’t stand up who are able to, it’s just going to continue to crumble.”
