Court Cases

On February 10, 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union Law Reform Project, the ACLU of Idaho, and Wendy J. Olson, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho, and partner at Stoel Rives, filed a putative class action lawsuit challenging an immigration raid carried out at a popular family event in Wilder, Idaho on October 19, 2025. This lawsuit challenges the actions of 200 law enforcement agents who swarmed a family-friendly horse racing event, violently detaining more than 400 people, including children and babies, for hours, many of whom sustained injuries at the hands of agents. The defendants were sent to Wilder to carry out a warrant for five individuals suspected of the nonviolent crime of gambling without a license. We argue that what occurred was an excessive use of force that went far beyond the criminal investigation allowed in the warrant, resulting in the unreasonable detention of hundreds of attendees, violating their Fourth Amendment rights. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of three Latino families who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. This is the first major challenge in the second Trump administration to ICE tactics that discriminate based on ethnicity. What Happened in Wilder In October 2025, more than 200 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers descended on the La Catedral arena with armored trucks and helicopters, flashbang grenades, and guns drawn, detaining approximately 400 spectators – including U.S. citizens and children – for four hours of detention in inhumane conditions. They shoved compliant people to the ground, forcibly dragged people out of their cars, shot rubber bullets, and threw flashbang grenades into cars that had people sitting inside. Parents and children were zip-tied at gunpoint, and agents subjected people to hours of violent and degrading treatment. This lawsuit is about securing justice for those harmed to ensure such a horrific violation of civil rights is never repeated in Idaho and demanding accountability from local, state, and federal law enforcement.