A federal judge in Missoula on Thursday appeared skeptical that he had the authority to release from custody a Mexican man pursued by law enforcement in Helena who mistook him for a different Latino man, but arrested him anyway.
Christopher Martinez Marvan, 31, saw his family in the U.S. District Courthouse on Thursday and embraced them for the first time since he left for work on July 1 in Helena. Roughly 50 people jammed into the courthouse in support of Martinez and his family.
“We were happy to get to see him,” Maria Pacheco, Martinez’s wife and a U.S. citizen along with their four children, told the Montana State News Bureau. “The kids have been asking to see him all the time. It gave them reassurance that he’s still here and not far away.”
Maria Pacheco and her daughter speak to the press