· Border Crossing Law Firm Archive · By Jimmy Tobias · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
The Missoula Independent gives a detailed account of Jose Rios-Diaz's 47-minute roadside detention and MIJA's class action against the Montana Highway Patrol. It explains the equal-protection and Fourth Amendment claims, identifies two plaintiffs already in deportation proceedings, and quotes a trooper's allegation that a former patrol chief ordered officers to find pretexts for arrests so federal agents could take custody.
The article shows how Shahid's immigration practice revealed a recurring civil-rights problem: clients were reaching deportation court through traffic stops they could not effectively challenge there. The class action addressed the state enforcement practice at its source.