Federal agents swept through the Sun Valley area last weekend searching for undocumented immigrants and arrested about 21 people in the raids. One family with members who are U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents said they were terrified by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who came to their home in the predawn hours accompanied by Blaine County sheriff's deputies. No one in their home was arrested. "They pounded on my door so hard that my walls shook," Dana Ayala, a Wood River Valley resident and U.S. citizen, told the Idaho Community Action Network. "My 19-year-old son opened the door to see what was happening, and six agents armed with guns, Tasers and flashlights pushed their way into my home." Agents from the Boise ICE office did not return phone calls Thursday seeking information about what prompted the raids in the Sun Valley area now. Blaine County sheriff's Detective Steve Harkins confirmed that deputies assisted ICE agents from a Boise fugitive unit who were seeking undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions or prior deportations or those who have remained in the country after being asked to leave. He said the raids began about 6 a.m. Saturday at homes and places of employment in Bellevue, Hailey and Ketchum, but he would not say if or when the raids ended. ICE agents also detained people who were not criminals but were unable to prove that they were U.S. citizens or legal residents, Harkins said. Many of the detainees are being held in the Ada and Canyon county jails, he said. Representatives of the Idaho Community Action Network denounced the raids and held a community meeting in Hailey Tuesday to hear from families involved. "It is clear that ICE agents terrorized the community, including U.S. citizen children who were sleeping when the raid occurred," said Leo Morales, a community organizer for ICAN. "In several homes, children were left crying as ICE agents interrogated parents and hauled them away. Testimonies gathered on Tuesday also indicated that in several instances ICE agents walked into the home looking for individuals not living there, then arrested the people in the home with no proof of immigration status. In some instances, federal agents rushed into the house when a child opened the door." ICAN contends the tactics used by federal agents are the result of Congress' failure to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. "They never informed us who they were, they just barged into our house. They never showed us a warrant," Ayala told the Idaho Mountain Express. She said the agents later told her that they were looking for a sexual predator with a Hispanic surname — someone she had never heard of, the Express reported. Ayala said her children are U.S. citizens and her husband is a Mexican native who has legal residency in the United States. She said the agents searched her home and questioned the occupants for about half an hour, were rude and abrupt and left her family traumatized, especially her 18-year-old daughter who is mentally disabled, the newspaper reported. "You don't treat citizens that way," Ayala said. "Not even so much as an apology. That's crazy. If they would have contacted the Bellevue marshal's office first, they would have known who we are." The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho is investigating the complaints to see whether civil rights may have been violated. "I've not heard that anybody had a warrant," said Jack Van Valkenburgh, executive director of ACLU of Idaho. "I'm trying to get the word out. You don't need to let (the agents) in if they don't have a warrant. I don't think that a lot of people understand their rights." Van Valkenburgh said the ACLU may not be able to do much more. ICAN is working with the families involved, Morales said.
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