Montana protester reaches plea deal: 'I'd do it all over again'
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As three Montana protestors arrested last fall reach a plea deal, they're sending a message about immigration enforcement.
Border Patrol agents detained a mother and her 17-year-old daughter from Flathead Valley, Montana, last September after a traffic accident. Protestors gathered at the Whitefish Border Patrol station that night to try to stop the agency from sending the pair to an ICE detainment facility.
Leanette Galaz, director of Flathead Democracy, stepped in front of a Border Patrol truck she believed was carrying the detained pair as it was leaving the facility. Whitefish police arrested Galaz and two other protesters the next morning.
Galaz said it was worth it.
"For a mom and her daughter to be taken into custody and then transferred to an ICE detention facility was a big enough issue, an important enough issue for us to put our bodies in front of a car at great risk to ourselves, understanding that we would be arrested," she said.
Galaz and two other protesters, Colton Little and Aggie Putnam, will plead guilty at today's hearing to obstructing a peace officer and public nuisance. They'll serve a six-month deferred sentence and pay around $700 in fines. Torres and her daughter, Fergie Diaz, are originally from Honduras, and were transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. Galaz said they've been released and are awaiting action on their asylum case.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said five people were arrested at the car crash last September. Witnesses said Torres and Diaz stopped to help and were not involved in the accident. Law enforcement on scene called Border Patrol to help translate, and the arrests followed. As far as her arrest, Galaz said "she'd do it all over again" to bring attention to cases like these.
She encouraged everyone to research their ancestry to discover their own backgrounds.
"Understand your history and where you come from, and help that guide who you are now and who you're gonna be, and the choices you're going to make as we move forward through these increasingly dark times," Galaz added. "That's your light. That's your path."
The protesters' plea hearing is at 9:30 a.m. at the Whitefish Courthouse. The protestors plan a news conference and Q&A session at Baker Park in Whitefish after the hearing.