Idaho probation officers created foreign-born list to give to ICE

A southwestern Idaho county’s probation officers have been compiling a list of foreign-born people on probation for federal immigration authorities, 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 ICE’s 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 County’s misdemeanor probation department, wrote in a May 13 email to six ICE agents.

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A southwestern Idaho county’s probation officers have been compiling a list of foreign-born people on probation for ICE agents. (Getty Images)

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 in the country illegally. 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 County’s 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 county’s efforts to compile a list of foreign-born people on probation for ICE is “an invasion of privacy.”

“It’s one thing to know that someone is “undocumented”, it’s 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 agency by providing them “information to carry out their lawful duties.”

Steve Cushman, director of constituent services for Canyon County, said he did not know exactly when the lists were first requested and provided, but added that it is his understanding that it goes back as far as the Obama administration.

On June 3, Naranjo told five ICE officers that she would talk to Breach about 
the “foreign-born list.”

The list compiled for ICE appeared to have been made without confirming that the people in question are in the country illegally. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

“We are working on a procedure to keep a list current for your agency,” Naranjo wrote. “I will get back to you on this as soon as we figure something out.”

Two days later, Breach sent an email to his staff directing them to compile a list of illegal immigrants.

“ICE has requested a list of offenders who are in the country illegally,” he wrote. “I need you to go through your caseload this month and send me a list of names of offenders who you believe are in the country illegally. I’ll review the names and put together a list that can be sent to ICE so that they can look into if the person is in the country illegally and if they want to take any action.”

The email shows ICE requested offenders believed to be in the country illegally, rather than all foreign-born probationers. Subsequent messages, however, show at least some probation officers used foreign birthplace as a way to identify people for review.

Most of the emails from May 1 to July 10 are heavily redacted, but they show how probation officers used information in their case files to compile the list.

“That’s everyone in my cabinet that filled out (an) intake form and stated not born in US,” Brandon Black, a Canyon County probation officer, said in an email back to Breach on June 8.

Another officer, Justin Donovan, told Breach that he only identified one person under his supervision who “may be here illegally,” adding that the man “only had an ID from Mexico during his last arrest.”

More than half of the people on the list were on probation for driving under the influence, five people were on probation for drug-related crimes and nine people for disturbing the peace, according to InvestigateWest. Only seven people were identified as having an ICE hold, meaning the federal government had already identified them for potential deportation.

Probation officers were regularly alerting ICE agents about the dates and times that certain probationers would be arriving at their office, according to the emails. In some cases, probation officers asked ICE if a person who had missed check-ins was in their custody. In two instances, officers emailed ICE just before and during the appointments to verify they were on their way to detain a probationer. One officer also gave ICE agents the home address and make, model and license plate of a probationer’s car.

Breach estimated that in the last three months, ICE agents have been at one or two probation appointments per month.

“All the law enforcement agencies we work with prefer to meet with offenders up in the office due to it being a controlled environment, which means it is safer for the offender, the officer, and the public,” he wrote. “There is an expectation from law enforcement agencies and the public that probation officers work cooperatively with law enforcement to ensure the safety of all parties involved.”

Pressed on whether the department is concerned that U.S. citizens or others with legal status could be included in the list, Breach referred to a previous statement that verifying a person’s status “is within the purview of federal authorities.”

“ICE may still target someone if they think the conviction is a deportable or removal offense even if they (have legal) status. Sometimes, ICE doesn’t get that right,” Alycia Moss, an immigration attorney with Fennemore Law in Coeur d’Alene, told InvestigateWest, noting that ICE agents should know if someone on the list is deportable or not but may still target people who are in the U.S. legally.

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Immigration attorneys and advocates fear that Canyon County’s foreign-born list could lead to probationers in the country legally being detained. (Bloomberg)

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Canyon County has faced criticism in the past for its attempts to help ICE.

In 2019, staff at the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office were told to notify immigration officials of “all foreign-born inmates” who were booked into the jail. Some of the people they alerted agents to were U.S. citizens who had posted bond, according to the Idaho Press. If inmates served jail time and posted bond, staff were directed to contact immigration officials.

That year, Canyon County faced three lawsuits from people who said they were illegally held in jail, despite posting bond, because the county refused to release them over their immigration status. The county settled with at least one man for $13,000.

The sheriff’s office is also facing a lawsuit from the ACLU of Idaho over allegations that the county and other law-enforcement agencies involved in an October 2025 ICE raid racially profiled Latino attendees and unlawfully detained people at a horse-racing venue. The allegations have not been adjudicated.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the county’s probation department and ICE for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.