Residents urge fair treatment for immigrant community

A group of young people last week implored the Columbia Falls City Council to show compassion and dignity toward the immigrant community after a Venezuelan man was recently detained in Whitefish by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Beker Enrique Rengifo del Castillo, 33, was detained by Border Patrol agents during a routine traffic stop on April 24. He was subsequently transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington, from which he was released late in the evening of April 30.

But his transportation back to Montana only took him as far as St. Regis, and volunteers then drove down there and brought him back to Whitefish.

Valley Neighbors, a local nonprofit that assists immigrants in the community, has alleged that Border Patrol agents seized Rengifo del Castillo after Whitefish Police requested their help with translating during the traffic stop.

At Monday’s city council meeting, several members of the community hoped the same thing doesn’t happen in Columbia Falls.

Columbia Falls resident Colton Little implored city leaders that everyone should be afforded due process under the law.

“How can we be free if we don’t fight for everyone?” he said. “He (Rengifo del Castillo) is a person. He’s a human being.”

He said apathy is dangerous and it’s important people don’t turn a blind eye, calling it a “poison to democracy.”

“Will we be a community that turns a blind eye?” he asked.

Little was joined by several others with similar sentiments.

Later in the meeting, Columbia Falls Police Chief Chad Stephens said the force has bilingual members and also uses Google translate when they stop someone who does not know English.

He also tried to explain when asked by Mayor Don Barnhart about the policy toward immigrants, but City Attorney Justin Breck urged him not to do that in an open meeting, so he stopped.

Council took no formal action on the matter.

In a May 1 press release, the Whitefish Police Department stated that its officers remain “committed to equal enforcement of the law and equal service to the public, while recognizing the dignity of all people, regardless of their national origin or immigration status.”

Andrea Sweeney, Rengifo del Castillo’s lawyer, told the Daily Inter Lake earlier this month she has yet to learn why he was detained.

Advocates for del Castillo initially gathered outside the office on U.S. 93 West as he was taken into custody on April 24, and protested in front of the Border Patrol Offices in Whitefish for several days.

The protestors initially shouted legal advice through a megaphone in the hopes that Rengifo del Castillo would hear.

Rengifo del Castillo secured a sponsor prior to arriving in U.S. about two years ago as part of the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela parole program initiated under former President Joe Biden, and he later applied for asylum, according to Rebecca Miller, chair of the nonprofit Valley Neighbors.

ICE said it was justified.  

Having a pending asylum application “does not preclude ICE or [Border Patrol] from placing you into removal proceedings,” a press release from the Border Patrol’s Spokane Sector stated” Additionally, the parole program that allows individuals to temporarily enter the U.S. does not confer legal immigration status. The parole program is a discretionary measure intended to address specific humanitarian needs, not a guarantee of permanent residency.” 

Further, the subsequent release of an individual, “does not imply that the initial apprehension by Border Patrol was unlawful. Border Patrol agents operate under clear legal authority, and our enforcement actions are conducted in compliance with federal law and established procedures,” the statement concluded. 

The statement did not provide any information about why Rengifo del Castillo was detained in the first place, however.

The Whitefish Pilot contributed to this story.