Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out multiple operations in and around Bozeman and Gallatin Gateway during the week of June 29, according to news reports from that area, marking a notable escalation of federal immigration enforcement in a part of Montana where such activity had been less common.
The operations included traffic stops in which individual drivers were pulled over and taken into custody. Community members and advocates described the arrests as abrupt and disorienting, with some detainees transported out of the area before families were notified. In the days that followed, the Latino community in Gallatin County — which includes a significant agricultural and service-industry workforce — pulled back from public life, according to community organizations working in the area.
One of those arrests has since become the subject of a federal legal challenge. Jose David Cortes Torres, 20, was stopped June 29 while driving to work. According to a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by a Montana law firm, the stop was made by individuals in a white Dodge Durango. Cortes Torres was held at the Cascade County Detention Center before a federal judge ordered his release Tuesday following a hearing in Great Falls.
The chilling effect on daily life described in Gallatin County echoes patterns seen in other communities following concentrated ICE enforcement operations. Employers, schools, and churches in Bozeman were reported to be fielding calls from community members uncertain about their safety. No similar operations had been publicly reported in Lewis and Clark County as of this writing, though Helena's Latino community has long-standing ties to families and workers across the state.