Following more than two hours of public comment on Monday, Whitefish city officials said a traffic stop that led to the detainment of a Venezuelan man who was in the country legally might warrant further investigation.

“We’ve heard allegations of racial profiling, of bias-based policing. Our policy clearly states, for bias-based policing, that any allegations are investigated,” said Whitefish City Manager Dana Smith at the June 2 City Council meeting. 

Smith's statement followed a lengthy long public comment period, during which more than a dozen residents raised concerns about the April 24 traffic stop initiated by Whitefish Police officer Michael Hingiss. According to a case report obtained by the Daily Inter Lake, Hingiss called U.S. Border Patrol’s regional dispatch center to request a “person check” on Kalispell resident Beker Rengifo del Castillo after pulling him over for a broken taillight. 

The responding Border Patrol agent detained Rengifo del Castillo, who was subsequently held in federal custody for about a week, despite having entered the country legally under a two-year humanitarian parole program. The Trump administration has made repeated efforts to end the program, but a federal court order blocked the termination of participants’ parole status at the time of Rengifo del Castillo’s detainment. 

Prior to the call, Rengifo del Castillo provided Hingiss with a driver’s license, car registration and proof of insurance.  

“There was no reason, though, the police report shows, to presume he was violating immigration law, nor was that really the business or jurisdiction of city police,” Rebecca Miller, a local immigration advocate, told Council. 

Miller concluded her testimony with a request to review the training materials police officers receive on criminal immigration violations. Other speakers called on the city to cease communications with Border Patrol agents, release the body camera footage of the traffic stop and issue an apology to Rengifo del Castillo. 

Smith said the city is following a policy dictating that “any alleged or observed violations” of bias-based policing are subject to investigation by the department supervisor. But she said the conclusions of that process would be kept under lock and key. 

“That is something that is not available for public information, whether or not we do an investigation and what the outcome is,” said Smith. “That puts the city at a liability risk. Personnel — individual employees — do have a right to privacy when it comes to any sort of disciplinary action.” 

Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacobs added that the body camera footage of the traffic stop would stay under wraps short of a judge ordering its release. She said copies of police training materials were available upon request. 

Whitefish City Councilor Steve Qunell said he was satisfied that the city was fulfilling its due diligence following Smith’s statement. 

“It makes me really sad that people don’t feel safe here,” he said. “Brown people, Black people, orange people, whatever. That somebody wouldn’t feel safe here really makes me feel sad, and I have a hard time because it feels like we are being thrown under the bus of this whole thing that is coming down on us, raining down on us.” 

In a prior interview with the Inter Lake, Whitefish Police Chief Bridger Kelch stated that he did not see a need for further investigation into the traffic stop. While present, he did not comment at the meeting. 

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

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