Idaho county probation officers compile foreign-born list to hand over to ICE as critics raise alarms

A southwestern Idaho county's probation officers have been compiling a list of foreign-born people on probation for , even though county officers did not independently verify whether everyone identified was in the U.S. illegally.

In Canyon County, Idaho, more than 140 emails between county probation officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from May to July 2026 show how the probation department has coordinated with ICEs Boise office, including by combing through its case files to create a list of foreign-born people on probation to hand over to ICE, according to communications obtained by InvestigateWest.

In May, a probation officer emailed ICE about a man she would meet the next day for his regular check-in.

"His meeting has not changed and he is expected to be here tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m.," Norma Naranjo, a senior probation officer for Canyon Countys misdemeanor probation department, wrote in a May 13 email to six ICE agents.

MISSISSIPPI LAW COULD CREATE STATEWIDE REGISTRY OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

The next day, the man arrived for his appointment a few minutes early, and Naranjo contacted the ICE agents again to ask if they would be coming soon.

"He is here are you guys on your way?" she wrote.

It was unclear from the heavily redacted emails if ICE agents took the man into custody at his probation appointment, according to InvestigateWest.

The list compiled for ICE appeared to have been made without confirming that the people in question are . According to InvestigateWest, one probation officer said in an email that the names he submitted included everyone in his files who had reported being born outside the United States. Foreign birth alone does not indicate unlawful immigration status; foreign-born people can include naturalized U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, commonly known as green-card holders.

Idaho law enforcement agencies have long worked with federal immigration officials to detain illegal immigrants who are in jail or serving their sentence on probation, but immigration attorneys and advocates fear that Canyon Countys foreign-born list could lead to probationers in the country legally being detained, particularly as ICE agents during the Trump administration detained or caught up U.S. citizens and people with lawful or pending immigration status in immigration enforcement actions. Some lawfully present noncitizens, including green card holders, can also be subject to removal based on certain criminal convictions or other grounds under federal law.

Nikki Ramirez-Smith, an immigration attorney with Ramirez-Smith Law in Nampa, Idaho, said the countys efforts to compile a list of foreign-born people on probation for ICE is "an invasion of privacy."

"Its one thing to know that someone is "undocumented", its another thing to just start targeting every single person who was born in another country," she told InvestigateWest.

Jeff Breach, the director of Canyon County's misdemeanor probation department, said the list includes "individuals whose place of birth is a foreign country — and can also include individuals that have been previously flagged with an immigration hold."

"Verifying and determining legal presence/status, along with any related enforcement, is within the purview of federal authorities," Breach told the outlet.

Breach said ICE has requested a list of people that could be in the country illegally, typically on an annual basis and across administrations. He said the probation department coordinates with ICE the same way it would with any local or state law enforcement ag