Idaho
Hundreds gather on Broadway Bridge in Idaho Falls to protest possible immigration raids – East Idaho News
Photo: Three Hispanic young women share messages about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) school raids and being raised by immigrant parents. The sign on the right says, “For my parents who came with nothing and gave me everything.” Video: Protestors thronged Broadway to voice opposition to federal U.S. immigration policy and tactics.| David Pace, EastIdahoNews.com
IDAHO FALLS — Several hundred people overflowed both sides of the Broadway Bridge in Idaho Falls on Saturday. The rally was to support families who may be targeted or broken up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration raids as the federal government takes new measures to enforce immigration policy.
One young mother with a baby boy spoke on condition of anonymity because her father is an undocumented immigrant.
“Immigrants are the root of America. My dad, he’s been here since I was born — a farmworker,” she said. “We live in fear. My dad, you know our family right now; it’s a tough time for our community. It’s a tough time for our people.”
The woman said after 25 years living in the United States, her father couldn’t attend the protest in person because he fears being deported.
“He picks our potatoes that we eat. You know, they want to send him back to Mexico. They want to to send him back. And that’s my dad,” she said, breaking down in tears. “I’m here today for him because he couldn’t be here. I had my sign. He put his handprint on my sign.”
An EastIdahoNews.com reporter counted more than 350 supporters at the peaceful protest, located adjacent to the frozen waterfalls and Japanese Friendship Garden along the scenic Snake River in downtown Idaho Falls. No counter-protesters were noted at the site.
Signs such as: “School is for education, not deportation,” “They’re our neighbors,” and “Fight ignorance, not immigrants!” waved in the air, accompanied by cheers of “No fears! No hate! No ICE in our state!” and “Sí se puede!”
Other posters read: “We’re all immigrants,” “No human is illegal on stolen land,” “The Pilgrims were undocumented! #KnowYourHistory,” “We speak for those who can’t,” “Immigration reform,” and “Families belong together.”
Event organizer Shantelle Duran said Hispanics and other immigrants are “business owners, workers, students, friends and neighbors.”
“We are here today to stand against racial profiling and unjust immigration policies that target our communities,” she said. “… We contribute to this country just like everyone else. The American flag represents us, too, and we will not be intimidated into silence. Our message is clear — we are here, we are staying, and we will continue to fight for our rights.”
Idaho Falls City Councilman Jim Francis attended the event to better understand this part of our community.
“I’m a strong supporter of community policing in all of its full meaning — that anybody in this community should be secure from crime against persons and property,” Francis said. “So it’s not the primary responsibility of our police department to look at immigration status. It’s to protect all the people who live here.”
The Idaho Falls Police Department’s full policy on immigration violations is outlined in policy 414 (pages 216-218), which states that for immigration violations, “an officer is encouraged to forgo detentions made solely on the basis of a misdemeanor offense when time limitations, availability of personnel, issues of officer safety, communication capabilities or the potential to obstruct a separate investigation outweigh the need for detention.”
Local Idaho Falls officers inform a supervisor if anyone is “detained for a criminal immigration violation.”
In response to “federal immigration officials requests for assistance … the department may provide available support services such as traffic control or peacekeeping efforts.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement does operate throughout Idaho, but “I’m honestly not aware of anything locally that’s a massive raid,” Francis said.
Law enforcement in Bannock and Blaine counties recently released statements refuting rumors about ICE raids in their communities. Social media in eastern Idaho has been rife with raid rumors for the past several weeks, but there has been scant evidence of any large-scale operations in the area.
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The city’s police policy is designed to increase trust with the general public and minority groups.
“Because as soon as you create fear among community groups about law enforcement, then they won’t come forward and help you solve crimes, and that’s our job,” Francis said. “I don’t care if you’re a tourist here or somebody who’s lived here for your entire life; you deserve the same protection of law.”
The rally drew support from large numbers of cars who honked passing by.
Former Bonneville County Democrats Chairwoman Miranda Marquit said it’s the second-largest demonstration she’s seen in Idaho Falls in the past 10 years.
Despite little evidence of ICE raids in the area, many at the protest said its a very real fear for them.
The anonymous mother with the boy urged her fellow immigrants to be careful.
“There’s posts on the internet — if you’re undocumented, stay home. It’s just what’s best. … They can’t, they can’t do anything at your door,” she said. “Stay safe to all the immigrants out there, you know, not just the Hispanics, but the Portuguese — everybody — all the immigrants.”
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For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
BOISE, Idaho — AAA is warning Idaho gas consumers that pump prices will likely rise as the conflict in Iran disrupts oil and gas supply chains worldwide.
The ongoing turmoil in the Middle East will likely push the price for a gallon of regular gasoline past the $3 mark over the coming days.
“On one hand, the crude oil market had time to account for some financial risk in the Middle East as forces mobilized, but a supply shortage somewhere affects the global picture,” says AAA Idaho public affairs director Matthew Conde. “If tankers can’t move products through the region, there could be ripple effects.”
On Monday, March 2, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.97, reports AAA, which is 12 cents more expensive than it was a month ago but 20 cents less than this time last year.
State / Price: 1 gallon of regular gasoline
- Washington / $4.37
- Oregon / $3.92
- Nevada / $3.70
- Idaho / $2.97
- Colorado / $2.89
- Montana / $2.82
- Utah / $2.74
- Wyoming / $2.73
In terms of the most expensive fuel in the nation, Idaho currently ranks #14. However, buying a gallon of regular gas in neighboring states such as Oregon and Washington could cost a whole dollar more. In contrast, gas prices in Utah, Montana, and Wyoming are anywhere between 15 to 24 cents cheaper than fuel in the Gem State.
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