· Great Falls Tribune · By Associated Press · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
The Associated Press reports on final arguments over Montana's LR-121, with both sides asking the judge to decide the case without a trial. Shahid Haque argued that the measure was designed not simply to verify benefit eligibility but to identify people for immigration enforcement, using terms and a federal database that did not match the complexity of immigration law. The state maintained that agencies could implement it consistently with federal requirements.
This hearing brought nearly two years of Shahid and MIJA's LR-121 litigation to its central legal question: whether Montana could build an immigration-enforcement system into routine applications for state services.