Complaint filed against City of Whitefish for unlawful arrest, detention
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News from Upper Seven Law
HELENA - On Monday, Beker Rengifo Del Castillo filed an action against the City of Whitefish and its employees for violating his constitutionally protected civil rights-.
On April 24, 2025, Whitefish police officer Michael Hingiss pulled Beker over, purportedly for a broken taillight. Beker entered the United States legally under humanitarian parole and lives in Flathead County. When Hingiss stopped him, Beker presented a valid, unexpired REAL ID compliant driver’s license along with valid vehicle registration and insurance documents. Beker has no criminal history and has never been subject to any federal detainer or order of removal.
Hingiss did not proceed with a normal traffic stop. Instead, he called Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to investigate Beker’s immigration status. Video and audio footage obtained from the Whitefish Police Department show that Hingiss did this because Beker spoke Spanish.
“You can’t detain someone just for being non-white and speaking Spanish, especially when they hand you a valid REAL ID,” said Andres Haladay, Senior Staff Attorney at Upper Seven Law. “This apparent racial profiling violates both the Montana Constitution and the United States Constitution, and damages trust between community members and local law enforcement.”
But Hingiss delayed the traffic stop to call CBP, further delayed the stop until CBP arrived, and kept Beker detained until CBP took him into custody. Beker was then wrongfully held at an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington, for nearly a week. He was ultimately released without explanation.
The complaint alleges that Whitefish and its employees violated Beker’s civil rights under both the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments by unlawfully profiling Beker because he is not white and speaks Spanish, and by extending a routine traffic stop to conduct an immigration investigation, even though Beker provided affirmative evidence of his lawful presence.
The Fourth Amendment prohibits detentions without reasonable suspicion of a crime. The Fourteenth Amendment protects against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and national origin.
Beker’s story demonstrates why untrained local police should not masquerade as federal immigration officers. Targeting non-white and non-English speaking individuals for wrongful investigation and enforcement of federal immigration laws violates the law. The City of Whitefish is responsible for adequately training its law enforcement officials to this effect.
Beker requests that the court enter a declaratory judgement that the Defendants violated his constitutional rights, and award appropriate damages given the constitutional violations, negligence, and failure to train.
Upper Seven Law, a Montana-based nonprofit law firm dedicated to holding the powerful accountable, represents the plaintiff. A copy of the complaint accompanies this press release.
