An emotive public comment opened the Whitefish City Council meeting July 21 regarding an incident earlier in the month when a Whitefish Police officer called U.S. Border Patrol during a traffic stop. 

It was just last month that the Council chambers saw about a dozen of citizens line up to make public comment about the Whitefish Police Department contacting Border Patrol in April when Kalispell resident Beker Rengifo del Castillo was detained after a routine traffic stop in Whitefish. 

At the July 21 Council meeting, a citizen* who identified herself as Z, quoted Yogi Berra.  

“It’s deja vu all over again,” she said, before breaking into song and performing a parody of Brittany Spears’ “Oops! ... I Did It Again,” changing the words to relay that the Police Department called Border Patrol again. 

“It appears that Whitefish Police Department is on a slippery slope toward eroding community trust and creating opportunities for discrimination and racial profiling,” she told the councilors.  

During the traffic stop, the Whitefish Police officer spotted a white van allegedly speeding about 7:35 a.m., July 12, near the intersection of U.S. 93 South and Commerce Street, according to a press release from the department.  

“During the initial contact the officer learned that the driver did not have a driver’s license, proof of insurance, or proof of registration,” the release stated. “The officer asked if any of the passengers had a driver’s license and one was provided. The officer conducted a driver’s license query through the Criminal Justice Information Network (CJIN). The CJIN query informed the officer that the driver’s license had an active alert for an immigration warrant.”  

In accordance with Whitefish Police Department policy, the officer contacted a supervisor who authorized notification to Border Patrol of the active alert, the release continued. 

During the Council meeting, the commentor identified as Z mentioned a news article that ran in the Whitefish Pilot on July 16 that said Whitefish Police Chief Bridger Kelch did not answer the reporter’s question about what kind of warrant the individual had. 

Kelch told Council the newspaper article did not present the department’s immigration violations policy completely. He said the passenger’s license “came back with a hit reference and immigration warrant.” 

“At that time, the officer is obligated to reach out to immigration officials,” he said. 

Kelch said questions about the immigration investigation should be directed to Border Patrol because the federal agency conducted that investigation, not the Whitefish Police Department. 

“That’s the proper venue to ask that question on – where the warrant came from and what was it – it would be through immigration, not the Whitefish Police Department,” Kelch said. 

The Pilot called the Whitefish Border Patrol to ask whether the immigration warrant was civil or criminal, but was directed to the Spokane Sector of Strategic Communication where a recorded message said the agency was unavailable. Border Patrol was also unavailable to provide comment at the time of the July 16 article. 

Kelch said the department’s immigration violations policy is three pages long and often, only one of the first paragraphs is quoted. 

The oft-quoted line is from Section 413.4, titled Detentions that states: “An officer should not detain any individual, for any length of time, for a civil violation of federal immigration laws or a related civil warrant.” 

Section 413.7.1 of the department’s immigration policy, Immigration Detainers, states: "No individual should be held based solely on a federal immigration detainer under 8 CFR 287.7 unless the person has been charged with a federal crime or the detainer is accompanied by a warrant, affidavit of probable cause, or removal order.” 

Further, it reads: “An officer who has a reasonable suspicion that an individual already lawfully contacted or detained has committed a criminal violation of federal immigration law may detain the person for a reasonable period of time in order to contact federal immigration officials to verify whether an immigration violation is a federal civil violation or a criminal violation. If the violation is a criminal violation, the officer may continue to detain the person for a reasonable period of time if requested by federal immigration officials. 

“If the officer has facts that establish probable cause to believe that a person already lawfully detained has committed a criminal immigration offense, he/she may continue the detention and may request a federal immigration official to respond to the location to take custody of the detained person.” 

The traffic stop on July 12 took about 40 minutes. Kelch said factors like the driver’s lack of a driver's license, and a conflict with the registration slowed the process.

Kelch told Council the Police Department is acting within federal law and state law, including a newly passed addition. 

The 2025 state Legislature passed a section in the Investigative Stop and Frisk section which states that “a peace officer who has lawfully stopped a person or vehicle under this section shall make a reasonable attempt, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person, except if the determination may hinder or obstruct an investigation. The peace officer shall make a report to a federal immigration agency as defined in 27-16-801 if a person stopped under this section is not lawfully present in the United States.” 

On July 12, dispatch called immigration officials to confirm the warrant and relayed the information to the police officer, who, Kelch said, called a supervisor, per the department’s policy.  

Kelch said the officers involved in the July 12 traffic stop “did an outstanding job” and were “polite” and “courteous.”

*Title updated July 30.