Canyon County’s Misdemeanor Probation Department in southwestern Idaho coordinated with ICE’s Boise office from May through July by compiling a list of individuals on probation who were born outside the United States, according to emails obtained by InvestigateWest. The effort involved probation officers reviewing case files to identify foreign-born probationers and providing that information to federal immigration agents.
Jeff Breach, director of the county’s Misdemeanor Probation Department, stated the list includes “individuals whose place of birth is a foreign country” and noted that ICE has requested similar lists annually across multiple administrations, dating back to at least the Obama administration. Breach characterized the department’s cooperation with ICE as consistent with how it works with other local and state law enforcement agencies. County officials said determining legal immigration status remains the responsibility of federal authorities.
Immigration attorneys and advocates have expressed concern that the list could result in the detention of people with lawful status in the United States, including green card holders, individuals with pending asylum applications, and naturalized citizens. Nikki Ramirez-Smith, an immigration attorney based in Nampa, Idaho, characterized the compilation and sharing of the list as “an invasion of privacy.” This concern arises amid documented instances of ICE agents arresting U.S. citizens and people with pending immigration applications.
The redacted list provided to InvestigateWest contains information on 82 people on probation, with over half placed on probation for driving under the influence charges. Only seven individuals on the list were identified as having an ICE hold, indicating prior federal immigration agency identification. Canyon County has faced previous criticism for immigration enforcement cooperation; in 2019, the county sheriff’s office maintained a policy of notifying immigration officials about all foreign-born jail inmates, and some people flagged were later identified as U.S. citizens. The sheriff’s office is currently defending a lawsuit from the ACLU of Idaho alleging racial profiling during an October 2025 ICE raid.
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