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 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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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."

"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 tim...