A federal judge on Tuesday evening ordered the immediate release of a Bozeman resident who was detained late last month by federal immigration officials, who allege he entered the United States illegally.
Brian Morris, chief judge of U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, ruled that 20-year-old Jose David Cortes Torres’ constitutional right to due process was violated when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) subjected him to “mandatory detention” in Cascade County without a bond hearing.
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This ruling came just hours after an initial hearing on the case Tuesday afternoon.
“The Government has again asserted no individualized justification — let alone a special or compelling justification — to continue to deprive Torres of his physical liberty,” Morris wrote in his order. “Such indifference from the executive branch to the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom from arbitrary confinement presents grave cause for concern. Accordingly, this Court further finds that the Government likely has detained Torres in violation of both his substantive and procedural due process rights.”
Cortes Torres’ attorney and an opposing attorney for the U.S. government agreed that the facts of the case are “indistinguishable” from those of another recent immigration case in Montana, which Morris asserts was the first of its kind in the state.
In May, Roberto Orozco-Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant and longtime Froid resident, was released from detention after the court ruled that his due process rights had been similarly violated. Morris also presided over that case.
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“Our position with respect to that is the same as it was in Orozco,” Timothy Tatarka, a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana, said in Tuesday’s court hearing in Great Falls. “We think the appropriate remedy … would be for this court to … send it back to the immigration courts for a bond determination.”
Morris rejected that request, and granted Cortes Torres’ attorney’s request to release him immediately.
“Torres, like Orozco, faces no criminal charges and has no prior convictions,” Morris wrote in his Tuesday order. “Torres, like Orozco, has family and community ties in the country, and specifically in Bozeman, Montana. The Government has not asserted that Torres presents a danger to the community or a flight risk. The combination of these factors again demonstrates that the Government likely has been arbitrarily and unjustifiably depriving Torres of his liberty.”
Neither the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, nor Tatarka immediately responded to requests for comment on Wednesday.
The use of mandatory detention — as opposed to a bond hearing before an immigration judge — for undocumented immigrants who have been present in the country but allegedly entered illegally is a new policy that the federal government implemented in July of last year.
Morris’ ruling noted that some judges have disagreed with his assessment of the policy’s legality, in some instances ruling that people allegedly in the country illegally may be subject to mandatory detention.
“The Court remains unpersuaded by the legal analysis in those cases,” Morris wrote.
Cortes Torres was pulled over while driving and detained by ICE agents in Bozeman on the morning of June 29, according to court filings. His arrest was part of a surge of immigration arrests in Gallatin County and nationwide. Federal immigration officers detained more than 10,000 people across the country during the last five days of June, according to news reports.
Cortes Torres has lived in Bozeman for the last three years. He is also the primary caretaker for his grandmother, who has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments. According to court filings, Cortes Torres was detained the day before his grandmother was scheduled to receive a second round of chemotherapy treatments. Andres Haladay, Cortes Torres’ attorney, said community members have been filling gaps in her care during the 10 days Cortes Torres has been detained.
As of the time of publication, it is unclear whether Cortes Torres has exited the detention facility in Cascade County. Morris’ ruling requires that he be released within 24 hours of the order.
Haladay celebrated the court’s ruling in a Tuesday press release.
“The United States Constitution protects all people from unreasonable search and seizure — including arrest. Montanans will not stand by and allow their neighbors to be swept up in politically motivated immigration raids,” Haladay said. “The rule of law is for everyone.”
Matt Hudson contributed reporting.
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