A Montana law firm has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court challenging the arrest and detention of a 20-year-old Bozeman man, arguing that the manner of his June 29 arrest raised serious constitutional questions.
According to the petition, Jose David Cortes Torres was pulled over while driving to work by individuals in a white Dodge Durango — an unmarked vehicle. The filing argues that the stop and subsequent detention lacked the legal foundation required under federal and constitutional law. Cortes Torres was transferred to the Cascade County Detention Center following his arrest.
The habeas petition is one of the more direct legal challenges to emerge from the recent Gallatin County ICE operations, and it puts specific factual claims about the mechanics of the arrest into a federal court record. Immigration attorneys in Montana have said that arrests made from unmarked vehicles, without clear identification of the arresting agents, complicate both the legal defense process and the ability of families to quickly determine what happened to a detained person.
A federal judge ordered Cortes Torres released Tuesday after a hearing in Great Falls. The underlying legal questions raised in the habeas petition — including what standards apply to traffic stops conducted by immigration enforcement agents — may continue to be litigated regardless of his release. The law firm that filed the petition has not been named in available reporting.