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Montana judge shouldn’t have called for Mexican man’s arrest

Billings, Mont. • A federal court says a Montana judge and sheriff’s deputy violated a Mexican-born man’s rights when they detained and arrested him based solely on suspicions he was in the country illegally.

Construction worker Miguel Angel Reynaga Hernandez was at a Billings courthouse in October 2017 with his wife, who was seeking a civil protection order against another person.

When that person said Reynaga was not a legal citizen, former Yellowstone County Justice of the Peace Pedro Hernandez called for a county sheriff's deputy, Derrek Skinner, who detained Reynaga and brought him to the county jail.