A Flathead nonprofit is suing over a state law that allows local police to check immigration status during traffic stops.
Valley Neighbors of the Flathead provides assistance to immigrants moving to the Flathead Valley. The nonprofit is suing the state, claiming a new law has led to increasing harassment of immigrant communities.
The policy allows local law enforcement to check immigration status during traffic stops and notify federal immigration agencies if the person is without legal status.
The nonprofit claims the policy permits unlawful arrests and racial profiling. It also claims the law violates the state Constitution. Valley Neighbors argues local law enforcement has no authority to arrest people on civil immigration violations.
Attorney Andres Haladay of Upper Seven Law is representing the nonprofit.
"We're not getting a lot of answers and there's not a lot of transparency from the local government as to how somebody's cracked windshield suddenly turned into Border Patrol agents taking somebody away," he says.
Haladay says since legislators approved the bill in the spring, there has been an uptick of “illegal immigration arrests” in the Flathead Valley. They are asking a judge to stop agencies from enforcing the policy and to declare it unconstitutional.
