At least four people were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo after local law enforcement said attendees seeking wristbands to purchase alcohol presented identification that prompted additional scrutiny.
Sikeston's Department of Public Safety said four people came to ICE's attention over immigration-related matters during the four-night rodeo, though officials have not said whether all of them were detained Saturday.
ICE's actions on the closing night of the annual southeastern Missouri rodeo sparked outrage among many residents and came as popular Mexican American rapper "That Mexican OT" was scheduled to perform.
A video posted by Sikeston resident Sarah Williams on Saturday evening shows a man and woman in plain clothes leading away her handcuffed father, Ricardo Montes, a Hispanic man wearing jeans, a plaid shirt and cowboy hat.
Williams pleads with the two law enforcement officers as they take Montes away. Before leaving, Montes turns to his wife, Sandy Gonzalez, and asks her for a kiss.
"I love you," she tells him before making the sign of the cross over him. Montes breaks down in tears before the officers take him away.
"I didn't know this was going to happen," said Gonzalez while fighting back tears.
A third law enforcement agent in a cowboy hat tells Williams and her family that Montes would first be held at the Scott County Jail before being processed and moved to ICE custody at the Ste. Genevieve Detention Center.
"You have to understand this is my dad. Imagine if this was your dad," Williams tells one of the agents.
The agent responds that he understands and acknowledges that it is a traumatic experience.
"No, it's not OK," Williams replied.
A separate social media video posted by one of Gonzalez's daughters shows Gonzalez and her sister Chloe lying on the rodeo grounds after the agents' actions.
Justin Staggs, Williams' husband, condemned Montes' detention on social media, alleging his father-in-law had been targeted because he is Hispanic.
"My father-in-law is the most honest and hard working man I know and wasn't causing any trouble tonight. He was singled out because he's brown at a place where a Mexican rapper is performing," he wrote.
"ICE isn't taking any hardcore criminals off the streets by targeting brown people at a rodeo. They are targeting hardworking, honest, good people at the rodeo grounds."
Beer ID checks spark arrests
The Sikeston Department of Public Safety disputed claims that ICE agents indiscriminately targeted Hispanic attendees. The department said ICE's presence at the rodeo was intended to "increase cooperation and working relationships between federal and local law enforcement agencies."
The department said that people were not randomly selected or approached by ICE while attending the rodeo and that each arrest was prompted by people who were trying to obtain a 21-and-over wristband to buy beer.
A rodeo worker was distributing wristbands told STLPR they were puzzled by law enforcement's public statements on Sunday. The worker, who is not being named due to fears of retaliation, said Montes had presented workers a Green Card that scanned without issue.
"We didn't check to see if he was legal or not because that wasn't our job," the worker said. "Our job was just to make sure they was old enough to drink."
The department said ICE was not at the rodeo to conduct an immigration raid or general immigration-enforcement operation but stepped in when an immigration issue was discovered.
"Law enforcement checks conducted as a result of those contacts indicated that all four individuals had existing immigration-related matters in federal systems," the department said in a statement. "ICE personnel subsequently handled those matters pursuant to their federal authority."
The Sikeston Department of Public Safety did not say what information officers checked, which databases were used or why an identification check intended to establish a person's age resulted in federal immigration information being reviewed. The department did not make anyone immediately available to be interviewed.
Sikeston does not have its own 287(g) agreement authorizing local police to perform certain federal immigration-enforcement duties, but the city straddles Scott and New Madrid counties, whose sheriff's offices take part in the federal program.
A staffer with the New Madrid County Sheriff's Office told St. Louis Public Radio on Sunday that its deputies were not involved and characterized the enforcement as a joint operation involving federal authorities, rodeo organizers and Scott County and Sikeston police.
After questions from STLPR, Scott County Sheriff Derick Wheetley publicly defended the immigration enforcement and his department's participation in the 287(g) program, while saying his deputies did not make Saturday's immigration arrests.
Wheetley was not made immediately available for an interview.
"I want to make one point particularly clear: the arrests Saturday night were made by ICE agents, not Scott County Sheriff's Office task force officers," wrote Wheetley. "ICE agents had been present at the rodeo since the first night. They were not walking through the rodeo randomly approaching people and asking about their immigration status."
Wheetley said people were referred to ICE after presenting identification at alcohol stands that workers believed needed additional verification by law enforcement.
The software they use at the stands, he added, verifies a person's age, the validity of the ID presented and how many times it's been used. Wheetley did not say which agency's officers conducted the verification, what information was checked or how immigration status played a role.
"I personally have friends from around the world, and I have had many conversations about immigration with people from different countries and backgrounds," Wheetley said. "One response I have heard repeatedly from people who have legally traveled or immigrated here is essentially this: their own countries would not simply allow an American to enter, remain beyond the period they were legally authorized to stay, and expect there to be no consequences—particularly if that person was committing crimes or causing problems."
Jerry Lee Summers, a nurse and longtime friend of Montes' family, said she doesn't buy local law enforcement's account of what happened.
"It's racial profiling," she told STLPR on Sunday. "[Montes] is the type of man … that would give the shirt off of his back to someone in need. He's not a criminal."
A spokesperson for ICE and the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo's organizers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This story has been updated to include comments from a rodeo worker.
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