HAILEY -- Several people claim to have seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement make arrests over the weekend in Blaine County.
A video began circulating Hispanic Facebook group chats showing a supposed ICE presence near the Balmoral Apartments on Saturday morning in Hailey.
"In talking to local law enforcement we were able to confirm that ICE was in Blaine County," Luis Campos, the legal director of The Alliance of Idaho, said. "(The) morale is low in the (Hispanic) community, undoubtedly."
The Alliance of Idaho is a nonprofit that provides low-cost immigration legal services for families in Blaine County and surrounding communities.
From what Campos understands, there were no raids or sting operations. He added that these were targeted operations against specific individuals and possibly some collateral arrests.
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As of Wednesday, the Alliance of Idaho received at least two new clients who were arrested, Campos said, and are currently in ICE's custody in connection to the events from the weekend.
"They were not part of generalized ICE raid operations," he said. "They appear to be victims of either targeted operations or, again, they were collateral arrest."
Campos' next step is to secure their release, adding that they are entitled to due process. Anyone living the United States who is arrested is entitled to due process, regardless of status.
Blaine County Sheriff Morgan Ballis said on Monday morning that he could neither confirm nor deny the presence of ICE in the county because it could put ICE operations at risk.
"When I talk about operational security, that includes confirming or denying whether or not (ICE is) up here, because we don't want to put those operations at risk," Ballis told the Times-News.
He said that federal law enforcement, including ICE, operates independently from his department. No deputies were involved in the operation.
Individuals taken by ICE are transported to a designated ICE facility, Ballis said. They cannot be transported or held at the Blaine County Detention Center.
At the end of January, rampant rumors of ICE sightings in the county prompted the Blaine County Sherriff's Office to release a statement that assured community members that the claims were "completely unsubstantiated."
ICE has, in the past, directly communicated with the sheriff's office when carrying out actions in Blaine County, according to the statement. The practice aligns with law enforcement's ability to ensure public and officer safety.
Herbert Romero, a community organizer in Blaine County, received phone notifications about concerned community members looking to verify the sightings.
Romero said that the sightings and arrests are a domino effect for the Hispanic community, one that has many moving parts, not just in Blaine but throughout all of Idaho.
"During these few weeks and months, I think (that's) the strongest wave that's coming, towards (Hispanics); nationwide, statewide and countywide," Romero said. "Locally, we will feel it in the beginning, stronger, than later on."
He said that there is an added mental health component to all the stress that undocumented and mixed-status families are feeling.
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"They're concerned, confused, the anxiety level and so the mental health community in our valley is reminded that 'Let's keep in tune with our kids and families right now,' because in the Latino community, the sustain of asking for help is not good," Romero said.
To prepare Blaine County residents for an immigration emergency, The Alliance of Idaho hosted several "Know Your Rights" workshops that provided the community with resources and tips on how to react if they were stopped by ICE. Campos said that the organization will look to do more workshops in the near future.
"A big part of the workshops is to ensure that people are not unnecessarily panicked or alarmed so the idea is not only for the individual to know their rights but to be prepared," he said.
Melanie Rivera-Cortez is the Hispanic Affairs Reporter for Times-News. She can be reached at m.rivera-cortez@magicvalley.com.
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