AGUSTIN RAMON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. DARREN SHORT, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Lincoln County and Administrator of Lincoln County Detention Center, Defendant and Appellee.
Case Number: DA 18-0661
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
03/25/2020
2020 MT 69
The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that holding individuals pursuant to a federal civil immigration detainer request is an arrest under Montana law. And, Montana law does not provide Montana law enforcement officers with the authority to arrest individuals based on federal civil immigration violations through immigration detainer requests. Montana requires an arrest warrant issued by proper judicial authority.
In August 2018, Agustin Ramon (“Ramon“), a resident of Eureka, Montana, was arrested on a charge of burglary and booked into the Lincoln County Jail. When Ramon attempted to post his $25,000 bond, the jail informed the bail-bondsman that the Lincoln County Sheriff would continue to detain Ramon, even if his bond were paid because the U.S. Customs and Border Protection had sent the jail a civil immigration detainer request.2 The Border Patrol had probable cause that Ramon was a removable alien under the federal
On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court‘s decision, holding that Ramon‘s continued detention for a new purpose when he was otherwise entitled to release was an arrest under Montana law and that the Lincoln County Sheriff lacked state arrest authority to detain Ramon on the basis of his potential removal under federal immigration law. Arrest authority of Montana law enforcement officers is controlled by Montana law. A detainer request is not an arrest warrant and does not compel the re-arrest of a person otherwise entitled to release.