Immigration detentions up in Northwest Montana, but numbers hard to come by

The Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration policy sparked a rush of immigration-related arrests in Northwest Montana in 2025.

Customs and Border Protection officials in the Spokane Sector, which includes the seven stations across eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana, logged 525 apprehensions last year — a nearly 300% increase from 2024.  

Details about these detainments, including how many resulted in civil or criminal charges, are not publicized by the federal agency. Border Patrol also does not parse its numbers by station or geographic area, making it difficult to track the impact the increase in immigration actions has had on local communities.  

A spokesperson for the agency did not respond to a request for more information on the number of apprehensions that occurred in Northwest Montana last year. 

In lieu of public data, the Inter Lake combed through a year’s worth of social media posts made by federal immigration agencies along with police department reports and personal photos and accounts to verify that at least 135 individuals were detained in Northwest Montana during 2025. The actual number is likely higher. 

Two multi-agency operations accounted for nearly half of the known immigration detainments. A raid that Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials conducted on a worksite in Bigfork in March resulted in 17 detainments. In December, multiple Border Patrol branches contributed to surveillance operations along Interstate 90 outside St. Regis, resulting in 41 immigration-related arrests.  

An X account attributed to the regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Denver attributed two arrests made during 2025 to agents in Kalispell.  

Four individuals were detained in January by Bonners Ferry Border Patrol agents near Thompson Falls. The Spokane Sector Border Patrol Facebook lists information for five arrests that were made in Montana without attributing a specific Border Patrol Station.  

Whitefish Border Patrol appeared to be the sole federal agency involved in at least 66 other detainments. 

“We’ve definitely seen a lot,” said Rebecca Miller, chair of the local nonprofit Valley Neighbors. “And a very large portion of it does start with local law enforcement stops and then them calling Border Patrol for one reason or another.”   

Most of the immigrants that Valley Neighbors works are in the process of obtaining citizenship. Miller said many have applied for asylum or have humanitarian visas that granted them the right to temporarily reside in the United States, so the local presence of Border Patrol agents wasn’t a concern. But the Trump administration has removed many of the protections afforded by these immigration statuses, catalyzing detainments in Northwest Montana and beyond.    

Miller said she is aware of at least two dozen encounters between immigrants and Whitefish Border Patrol agents in the past year. Many were preceded by traffic stops or other interactions with local law enforcement agencies — something Miller can’t recall occurring prior to 2025.    

Most recently, Miller said a Venezuelan couple she knew was detained while en route to the emergency room after the wife had an unexpected asthma attack. A deputy with Flathead County Sheriff’s Office reportedly pulled the pair over in December due to what Miller believes was a faulty light. The deputy subsequently contacted Border Patrol agents, and the couple was detained. They remain in federal custody. 

The Inter Lake was unable to independently verify Miller’s report because Flathead County refused to release the incident report of the traffic stop, citing concerns about the confidentiality of criminal justice information.   

In total, state or local law enforcement agencies were involved in more than 25% of known immigration detainments in Northwest Montana. At least 22 people were detained by Whitefish Border Patrol agents during traffic stops, and eight people, including a 17-year-old girl, were detained after law enforcement agents responded to vehicle crashes.   

NEARLY ALL of the known apprehensions in Northwest Montana involved immigrants from Central and South American countries, like Mexico, Venezuela and Honduras, despite Latino immigrants making up only a small percentage of the area’s total immigrant population. 

About 1,572 noncitizens resided in Flathead County in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, of which 109 were born in Latin America. Northern America — defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as Canada, Bermuda, Greenland and St. Pierre and Miquelon — was the birthplace of 955 of the county’s noncitizens, and another 329 reported being born in Europe. 

“When we talk about safety for Latino immigrants in the Flathead Valley, it makes this place incredibly unsafe,” said Leanette Galaz, an organizer for Flathead Democracy, of the recent increase in immigration enforcement actions. 

The Flathead Valley has a minimal Latino population, said Galaz, so even a small number of detentions can have immense impacts for the community at large.  

One survey produced by Pew Research Center found that 47% of U.S. Hispanic adults reported feeling less safe in their local area because of the Trump administration’s deportation actions and 43% worried about being asked to prove their U.S. citizenship or immigration status during day-to-day activities. 

OF THE 135 people detained in Northwest Montana in 2025, 11 are convicted or accused of non-immigration related criminal charges, ranging from trespassing to assault and battery.  

The Inter Lake was unable to verify the records of the remaining 124 individuals, but nationwide data suggests that relatively few detainees have the sort of violent criminal record that the Trump administration claims immigration officials target.  

An analysis by the Deportation Data Project, a research initiative cooperatively run by the universities of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles, found that more than a third of the individuals arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement between January and October 2025 did not have a criminal record and fewer than 5% of detainees had been convicted of a violent crime. 

The Trump administration has shown no signs of curbing its approach to immigration policy. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Minneapolis continue to spur legal challenges from both sides of the aisle as the newest onslaught of visa restrictions further stymies legal pathways to naturalized citizenship. 

In July, Congress approved a massive influx to the budgets of both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Together, the agencies are slated to receive $170 billion worth of funding over the next four fiscal years. About 8,500 employees are expected to be added to Border Patrol’s payroll with a portion of the funds. 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 758-4433 or [email protected].