A Kalispell man from Venezuela detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents last week was released Wednesday night following days of protests outside the federal agency’s Whitefish office.

Beker Enrique Rengifo del Castillo, 33, was reportedly detained by Border Patrol agents during a routine traffic stop on April 24. He was subsequently transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington, from which he was released late in the evening of April 30. 

Valley Neighbors, a local nonprofit that assists immigrants in the community, has alleged that Border Patrol agents seized Rengifo del Castillo after Whitefish Police requested their help with translating during the traffic stop.   

Originally from Venezuela, Rengifo del Castillo arrived in the Flathead Valley about two years ago under a humanitarian parole program, said Rebecca Miller, vice chair of Valley Neighbors. Though the Trump administration has sought to end the program and rescind participants’ legal status, a federal judge in Massachusetts has put those efforts on ice.  

Rengifo del Castillo, who worked in the food and cleaning services industries, does not appear to have a criminal record. 

Valley Neighbors said in a statement that Rengifo del Castillo’s release should be “a wakeup call” for local and federal law enforcement agencies. 

“A man was deprived of his liberty for a week, subjected to loss of income and emotional trauma,” stated the organization. 

Neither Immigrations and Customs Enforcement nor Border Patrol responded to inquiries from the Daily Inter Lake by press time. In a May 1 press release, the Whitefish Police Department stated that its officers remain “committed to equal enforcement of the law and equal service to the public, while recognizing the dignity of all people, regardless of their national origin or immigration status.” 

Andrea Sweeney, Rengifo del Castillo’s lawyer, said she has yet to learn why he was detained. Officials were similarly tightlipped about why they decided to release Rengifo del Castillo Wednesday night, though Sweeney said the near-constant presence of protestors outside the Whitefish Border Patrol office may have helped tip the scales in his favor.  

ADVOCATES INITIALLY gathered outside the office on U.S. 93 West as Rengifo del Castillo was taken into custody on April 24. Several returned over the course of the week, trading daytime shifts on the sidewalk outside the facility.  

The protestors initially shouted legal advice through a megaphone in the hopes that Rengifo del Castillo would hear. After attorneys confirmed they had spoken with Rengifo Del Castillo, the protests turned quieter. Snacks, sidewalk chalk and bubbles were in ample supply, but by 3 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, fatigue was beginning to settle in. 

Leanette Galaz, an organizer with Flathead Democracy, leaned against the back of her car in the parking lot of the Grouse Mountain city park, about a block from the Border Patrol office. The two other protesters that had kept Galaz company since 8 a.m. had just left, but Galaz planned to stay another two hours to hand off supplies to the evening crowd. In the meantime, her stepdaughter wrote “Free Beker” on the sidewalk with a sliver of orange chalk. Galaz’s eyes momentarily clouded with tears. 

“The warriors are supposed to stand in front of the women and children,” said Galaz. “I have women and children out here.” 

For Mallory Phillips, the risks of publicly protesting seemed immense. After a year, she was just settling into her job as a therapist at Kalispell Middle School, and she worried taking what some viewed as a controversial political stand would ostracize her from students and coworkers. 

“I tend to not be as comfortable out,” said Phillips. “I’m learning to push myself. In a small community, it feels kind of scary to do that.” 

While she had not always agreed with previous political actions, Phillips said Rengifo del Castillo’s detainment “brought national news to our community,” and prompted her to take a public stand, despite her fears.  

On Wednesday evening, she joined five other protestors in front of the Border Patrol office. 

Another attendee asked that her name not be shared, as she is still waiting to receive documentation with her updated citizenship status and feared retribution from customs officials. While she has lived and worked in the United States since 2008, the protester and her partner, both originally from United Kingdom, only applied for permanent citizenship after President Donald Trump was elected to his second term in office. 

“We were afraid, being residents, we wouldn’t have as many rights,” she said.  

The federal judge that performed her citizenship ceremony in March 2025 encouraged participants to be civically engaged and exercise their right to peaceful protest and free speech. The next day, she said she went to her post office to apply for a passport, then messaged Flathead Democracy on Facebook. 

While her background differs from Rengifo del Castillo’s, she said her own experiences with the immigration process made the recent protests especially poignant. 

“If people don’t stand up for someone like that, who is being jailed and harmed, who’s going to stand up for me?” she said. 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at [email protected] or 758-4433.