For more than two months, Roberto Orozco-Ramirez’s family has been waiting for news of the legal fate of their father, a Froid, Montana, auto mechanic who was arrested by Border Patrol in late January. The federal government charged Orozco-Ramirez with illegally re-entering the United States, a felony. He has been held in the Cascade County Detention Center since Jan. 27.
On Monday, nine days before Orozco-Ramirez’s next scheduled hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the court to dismiss the charge, according to court documents. On Tuesday, Chief District Judge Brian Morris granted the government’s unopposed motion to dismiss.
The development effectively ends the criminal case and means Orozco-Ramirez will not serve prison time or probation for the charge.
But according to immigration lawyers, the dismissal does not guarantee that Orozco-Ramirez will return home to Froid or be able to stay in the U.S.
Hank Branom, a public defender representing Orozco-Ramirez, told Montana Free Press that he is “grateful” for the dismissal, but declined to elaborate on the specifics of the case or the implications of the dismissal. In an email to MTFP, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office that requested the dismissal said, “Because matters are still pending in this case, we are unable to comment.”
Though Orozco-Ramirez could be released from Cascade County jail, it’s also possible that he could be “picked up” from jail by federal immigration officials and transferred to a federal immigration detention facility, according to Kari Hong, a Missoula-based immigration attorney.
Hong said that decision — to release an inmate or transfer them to a federal facility — can depend on the priorities of a presidential administration and the individual attitudes of federal immigration officers. Under the Trump administration, which has deployed federal immigration agents across American cities in a push for mass deportation, Hong said, Orozco-Ramirez could be facing “long odds” of being released.
“Years ago, [Orozco-Ramirez] would’ve walked out of federal court and would’ve returned to his home, and they probably would’ve just looked the other way, which they are allowed to do,” Hong said. “Under the current administration, they are making a clear decision to probably, more likely than not, they will detain him.”
Because there is no federal immigration detention facility in Montana, Hong said, Orozco-Ramirez could be sent anywhere in the country. She said many immigrants detained in Montana are sent to federal facilities in Washington or Nevada.
At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Orozco-Ramirez was still listed on the Cascade County Detention Center inmate roster as a federal inmate, meaning he is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. By 2 p.m., he was additionally listed as an immigration inmate, which, according to an official within the Cascade County Sheriff’s office, could mean that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested the detention center either hold Orozco-Ramirez for up to 48 hours so the U.S. Department of Homeland Security can assume custody of him or notify DHS before he is released.
If Orozco-Ramirez is transferred to a federal immigration facility, Hong said, he could await a hearing in immigration court or face deportation.
Roberto Orozco Lazcano, Orozco-Ramirez’s 19-year-old son, who is a U.S. citizen, said Tuesday morning that it’s been hard on his family not knowing what could happen to his father.
“It sucks,” he said. “I wish I just knew what was going to happen so I could just prepare myself for whatever, but I can’t prepare for what I don’t know. It’s very, very hard.”
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