ICE abducts Montana resident with legal humanitarian status

The Handbasket is subscriber-funded. If you want to support independent media during these dark times for democracy, become a paid subscriber today.

Beker Rengifo is a 33-year-old living in Whitefish, Montana, a small city about one hour south of the Canadian border. Originally from Venezuela, he obtained legal status in the US via the CHNV humanitarian parole program which allows migrants from select countries to live here temporarily. Rengifo has become part of his community and is described by those who know him as hard-working and honest. But after a routine traffic stop on Thursday, Rengifo is now a prisoner of the federal government.

The early days of the second Trump administration have been defined by its reckless and inhumane approach to immigration issues, taking action first and asking questions later. For those not born in this country but residing here, due process has gone from a right to a luxury, as we’ve seen with the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Maryland and a mother and her three children in Upstate New York. So when some people in Rengifo’s community heard he’d been detained by Customs and Border Control (CBP), they sprang into action to make sure he wasn’t lost under the cover of darkness—and the opacity of immigration authorities. 

“We knew that there were asylum seekers in our community who had legal status to be here in our country, and we knew that it was just a matter of time before those folks would also get picked up,” Leanette Galaz, a local community organizer who founded a group called Flathead Democracy that came Rengifo’s defense, told me Friday. She started preparing in February by creating an ICE neighborhood watch group, and it has quickly come through: As soon as group members got word Rengifo was detained, Galaz and others went right over to the local CBP building.

flathead.democracy

1,093 followers

View more on Instagram

Galaz immediately hopped on Instagram live via the Flathead Democracy account to highlight the miscarriage of justice, and to rally people to meet at the Whitefish CBP building on Highway 93 West to raise hell. She continued broadcasting throughout the night, and from the hours of 8pm MT to 1 or 2am, 40 or so people came through in person to keep watch. They held candles and raised signs saying things like “FREE BEKER” and “No Mo’ GESTAPO” while chanting “CBP breaks the law.” 

According to eyewitnesses earlier on Thursday, Rengifo was pulled over by Whitefish police officers for a busted tail light. But when they learned he didn’t speak English, they called in CBP for translation services. John Skinner of Valley Neighbors, a local nonprofit that works to make the area more welcoming for immigrants, said this has become typical. 

“What that means is that, de facto, every Spanish speaking traffic stop becomes an immigration stop,” Skinner said. Skinner is Rengifo’s case worker and served as legal sponsor to allow him to come to the US. “Having legal status is just sort of a binary: like, you either do or you don't have it. And he has it.”

The CHNV parole program—which stands for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela—has been under threat by the Trump administration. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on February 2nd that the program was being terminated in late April; but two weeks ago a judge issued a stay on the decision, allowing the program to continue and protecting the legal status of people like Rengifo. 

NewsNation—the outlet known for hiring Chris Cuomo and its prolific coverage of UFOs—did a story earlier this week called “How CBP is securing the US northern border.” Their reporter did a ride-along with Border Patrol agents in the Whitefish area, and watched as CBP detained multiple people. Importantly, they noted how CBP is working directly with ICE enforcement and removal operations, which Rengifo’s case has made clear.

Once Rengifo was finally allowed to speak to an immigration attorney and Skinner by phone late Thursday, all parties were assured he wouldn’t be moved to ICE custody that night. After these assurances and hours on their feet, organizers decided to head home. But as Galaz sat in her car wrapping up her social media coverage, she noticed movement outside the building and got back out.

“I set up my live feed to document his transfer because there's nothing else I could do,” she told me. “I had a couple of folks come back and stand with me which is nice cause it's really scary being there by yourself.”

Galaz and the organizers watched as multiple vehicles pulled out of the parking lot, knowing Rengifo was inside one of them and bound for ICE custody. 

Protecting immigrants is profoundly important and something the Trump administration has made clear that they view as an act of aggression. On Friday Judge Hannah Dugan of Wisconsin was arrested by the FBI and erroneously charged with two felonies for her handling of an ICE bust in her courtroom. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Fox News in response: "What has happened to our judiciary is beyond me...they are deranged...we are sending a very strong message today...we will come after you and we will prosecute you. We will find you."

Now Rengifo’s family, friends and attorney are trying to find him. They believe he’s at the ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, more than eight hours away from Whitefish. When I looked up his status on the ICE website Friday afternoon, it said “in ICE custody” but listed no facility. 

Galaz said allies of varying political stripes are coming together to loudly protect their neighbors, and she hopes more people start to understand the clear and present danger presented by local law enforcement’s cooperation with CBP and ICE. 

“We're not politically affiliated with any party,” she said of her organization, “so we're talking about people from all different parties and political ideologies agreeing on one issue—which is pro-democracy, anti-authoritarianism.”