A federal judge has ordered the release of Roberto Orozco-Ramirez, a mechanic and father of four from the small northeastern Montana town of Froid, after ruling that his months-long immigration detention likely violated his constitutional right to due process. U.S. District Court for the District of Montana Chief Judge Brian Morris issued the order, and supporters who had rallied around Orozco-Ramirez for more than 100 days said the ruling brought immediate relief to a community that had made his case its own.

Orozco-Ramirez had been held in immigration detention while his case worked through the courts. Froid, a town of only a few hundred people in Roosevelt County, organized sustained public support for him during that stretch — a level of community mobilization unusual even by Montana standards, where neighbors tend to know one another across long distances.

Chief Judge Morris's ruling focused on the duration of the detention and the procedural protections owed to individuals held without a bond hearing for extended periods. The decision does not resolve Orozco-Ramirez's underlying immigration case, but it ends his detention while those proceedings continue.

His return to Froid was welcomed by the community that had pushed for his release. The case drew attention across Montana as an example of how federal immigration enforcement actions play out in rural communities with deep ties to immigrant workers and families.