- [Hannah] Coming up on "Impact," how one state Senate primary in north-central Montana could determine who takes the reins in Helena next session.

- These are the most important races on the ballot in Montana this year.

- [Hannah] Plus, a small Montana community responds when a neighbor gets picked up by immigration authorities.

- Roberto's our neighbor.

He is a part of our community.

- Well, I think knowing that I wasn't alone, or my family wasn't alone, just kept me pushing.

- From the campuses of Montana State University, Bozeman, and the University of Montana, Missoula, you're watching "Impact" from Montana PBS Reports, and those stories are straight ahead.

Stay with us.

- [Announcer] Major funding for "Impact" comes from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

Funding also comes from viewers like you, who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

"Impact" is an editorially independent production of Montana PBS Reports.

Coverage decisions are made by our team of Montana-based journalists.

For feedback, questions, or ideas, email us impact@montanapbs.org.

- Welcome to "Impact."

I'm Hannah Kearse.

Since the Trump administration ramped up deportations of undocumented immigrants, it's estimated that there could be more than 100,000 U.S.-born children separated from a parent.

Montana PBS's Matt Standal has been following the story of a Montana family whose four boys were separated from their father while he was jailed for 105 days.

Matt, the story is about more than just immigration policy.

Why is that?

- Well, Hannah, the story of Roberto Orozco-Ramirez is also a story about his community, the tiny town of Froid, Montana, rallying around the Orozco family.

Neighbors working to free an undocumented immigrant and reunite him with his children.

For a man who hasn't seen his family in months, Roberto Orozco-Ramirez has a lot of catching up to do.

- [Passerby] Look at this, holy crap!

- [Matt] Jailed since January, the 42-year-old Froid man was released in May after more than 100 days in federal detention.

Roberto's lawyers working to free him.

- To Roberto, this means he can go home.

- [Matt] The case against Orozco-Ramirez, a flashpoint in Montana's immigration debate.

His arrest by the Border Patrol in January, part of the ongoing conflict between local communities and federal immigration enforcement.

- Roberto's our neighbor.

He's a part of our community.

- This is a man who has coached our kids.

This is a man who's shown up to take care of school buses.

- Great businessman.

He's my neighbor.

Been my neighbor next door for 11 years.

- [Matt] Here in Froid, Montana, a tiny farm town just 50 miles from the Canadian border, Orozco-Ramirez is a lot of things to a lot of people.

He's a diesel mechanic, baseball coach, a father of four boys.

But one very important thing he's not: a U.S.

citizen.

- Up until six months ago, I didn't know Roberto was illegal.

I had no idea that he was illegal.

- [Matt] A few weeks after Roberto's arrest, Keith Nordlund found himself organizing the biggest fundraiser this deeply conservative rural community had ever seen.

(people chattering) More people showed up to the Froid Community Center that night than the town has residents.

They shared a meal.

- [Auctioneer] Yep!

- [Matt] They bid on hay and gravel and tools.

- [Auctioneer] Two and a quarter.

- [Matt] Raising money for the family of a man many believe should never have gone to jail.

- And you couldn't find a more nonviolent person than Roberto.

- [Matt] Marvin Qualley drives a school bus here in Froid.

He says Roberto's arrest shocked this otherwise peaceful community.

- We had 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we had at least two Border Patrolmen in our town.

- Nordlund told us that Border Patrol staked out Roberto's house, targeted his children, and the harassment got so bad, the boys quit going to school for a week.

- I personally don't believe that's right.

Them four boys are American citizens.

- [Matt] Roberto's lawyers say Border Patrol agents even tried to grab him from his diesel shop, posing as customers with a broken engine.

Roberto posting this clip on social media in response.

- Not today.

Maybe tomorrow, but absolutely not yesterday.

Keep pushing boys, step it up.

Come on.

- [Matt] Neighbors saying that shows the frustration of a man being pursued by federal agents.

The U.S.

Border Patrol accusing Roberto of illegally reentering the United States after being deported more than 15 years ago.

We asked the U.S.

Border Patrol specific questions about this case, but officials declined to be interviewed, sending us an email that included few details, but did state, "This enforcement action represents a community safety priority."

But not everyone in Roberto's community seeing it that way.

- [Neighbor] What are you guys doing?

- [CBP] Our job.

- [Neighbor] What's that?

- Immigration - Harass people.

- [CBP] Immigration.

You got any questions, you can call my office.

- [Neighbor] Okay, I will.

- [Matt] Roosevelt County Sheriff Jason Frederick told us tensions were on the rise here in Froid, and Border Patrol agents planned to arrest Roberto using a SWAT team.

He declined to appear on camera, but said he personally drove to Froid and convinced Roberto to surrender to avoid a violent confrontation.

- [Jason] More than Roberto fighting back, I was more concerned that the citizens of this county were gonna fight back.

(door closing) - [Matt] Roberto was taken to the Cascade County Detention Center in Great Falls.

Prosecutors charging him with one count of felony illegal reentry.

He pleaded not guilty.

- It's really hard seeing that now he's in jail.

- His three teenage sons, along with members of the Froid community, made the six-hour drive across Montana to be there for his arraignment.

- It's incredible seeing such a hardworking man, I mean, my dad, be in a situation like this.

I just don't find it very fair.

- [Matt] Local attorney Laura Christofferson said when Roberto was arrested, she felt compelled to help, and what she found changed everything.

- What we believe is that even in 2009, at the time of his first deportation, he was not afforded due process, which means he was illegally removed.

- [Matt] Christofferson telling us that when Orozco-Ramirez was first deported, and again when he was arrested by the Border Patrol, federal authorities broke the law and how the government pursued Roberto was wrong.

- I think people should understand that this is a person who's been in the U.S.

more than 25 years, raised a family with four U.S.

citizen children, who are contributing members of our community.

- [Matt] In April, prosecutors dropped the felony charge filed against Roberto.

His attorney saying he should have walked out of jail a free man.

Instead, Orozco-Ramirez was transferred to an ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington.

- The conditions are not humane.

There is extreme heat.

There's extreme cold.

There is overcrowding.

Let me introduce you to a small town most Americans could not find on a map.

- [Matt] Law professor Kari Hong has followed Roberto's case closely and now uses it to illustrate what she sees as major failures in the nation's immigration system.

- This is bigger than immigration.

This is about whether we function as a democracy.

- Roberto, she says, is fortunate in ways most people in his situation are not.

He has a community willing to fight for his freedom.

Most undocumented immigrants, she says, never get that chance.

- People will say, "Well, why can't you get in line?"

And the better analogy is that there are no lines.

There's no pathway for people to ask for a green card.

If you have crossed the border, you don't get a hearing.

- [Matt] Roberto's journey through ICE detention brought him from Froid to Great Falls, Havre, then on a plane to Tacoma, Washington, another plane to an ICE facility in Arizona, then on to Idaho and back to Great Falls, a dizzying journey where his family lost contact.

- [Protester] ICE out!

(protesters cheering) - [Matt] Roberto's case is unfolding amid a broader political fight over immigration enforcement in Montana.

- We want ICE defunded and to stop just taking people off the streets.

- Local municipalities need to cooperate with federal authorities so that we do not harbor illegal immigrants in our communities.

- [Matt] Law enforcement officials telling us that public opinion throughout the state broadly supports ICE.

- I hear all the time from the public that they want criminals in this community removed, and if they're here illegally, they want them deported.

Yes, I hear that way more than I hear the other side.

- [Clerk] Orozco-Ramirez v. Viser et al.

- [Matt] In May, attorneys made a last-ditch effort to free Orozco-Ramirez, accusing the Trump administration of denying the constitutional right to due process for thousands of undocumented immigrants like Roberto.

Again, the community of Froid showed up.

- Oh, there's probably 25 from the Froid community.

- I think it's kind of crazy to me how much this has affected the community.

- He's so important to us as a community.

- Because this isn't just about the letter of the law.

This is about humans.

- Good, good neighbors, you know, the kind that you want.

- Of course, I want this to turn out well so that he can continue to teach me all the things he's been teaching me and continue the family business, which is, I mean, diesel mechanics.

And seeing him work hard and him loving his job, I want to be just like him.

- [Matt] Roberto's four children sat in the front row while lawyers argued for and against his release.

A federal judge ultimately siding with Roberto Orozco-Ramirez, ruling against immigration authorities.

His release from jail, a joyous moment.

And when Roberto walked out of the Cascade County Detention Center, his oldest son was there to surprise him.

Then it was off to Froid, a six-hour journey where Roberto's lawyers, along with this reporter, navigated a severe dust storm that slowed traffic and closed Montana highways.

Just one more physical barrier preventing Orozco-Ramirez from coming home.

(alarm wailing) When he did finally make it back to Froid, Roberto's neighbors were waiting.

(car horn honking) People of all ages cheering him through the streets on the way back to his family.

(car horn honking) (people yelling) Roberto Orozco-Ramirez telling us it's this tight-knit community here in northeast Montana that got him through ICE detention, saying he kept one very important thing in mind the whole time.

- Well, I think knowing that I wasn't alone, or my family wasn't alone, just kept me pushing and, I mean, going through whatever just to get to this day.

(car horn honking) - [Neighbor] We love you, Roberto!

- [Matt] The sign in the middle of town simply reads, "Froid, there's no place like home."

For "Impact," I'm Matt Standal in Froid, Montana.

- Orozco's attorney says the 42-year-old now faces what could be years of immigration proceedings on what his family hopes is a path to citizenship.

We wanna thank Nora Mabie and Lauren Miller of the Montana Free Press for collaborating with us on this story.

Election season is upon us, and because so many state legislature seats are either solid red or solid blue, most of these races are effectively decided in the primaries.

And since Montana is mostly Republican, that means the fights within the GOP are a struggle for control of the whole legislature.

Big money groups on both sides have taken notice.

Montana PBS's Sam Wilson reports from Senate District 9, where the opposing forces are pulling the hardest.

(birds chirping) - [Sam] It's a good thing the song of the meadowlark is so sweet, because during springtime in Teton County, there's no escaping it.

Also inescapable, though much less sweet, is the song of political campaigning.

- [Robo call] Did you know Llew Jones sides with Democrats more than any other Republican in the Montana Legislature?

- [Sam] And this election cycle, politics arrived earlier than usual.

- [Robo call] That's right.

Time and again, Jones is there when Democrats need him, but abandons Republicans when we need him most.

- [Sam] Attack ads like this robocall started reaching north-central Montanans way back in June, soon after lawmakers returned home from the session and a full year before primary election day.

- The first time the negative ads hit, you could hear the people in the community going, "Why are they doing that?"

- [Sam] Vicky Baker said she learned how to be a Republican from her grandfather, who started sheep ranching in Bynum in the 1930s.

- He had some pretty staunch beliefs.

You know, he believed the government shouldn't be taking care of people.

The churches should be taking care of people.

But we still have that concern for our neighbors.

If the world were to end tomorrow, I would want to be in Teton County.

- [Sam] Baker lives in Senate District 9, which stretches from the Canadian border to the hills of Helena Valley Northwest.

Vying to represent her are two Republicans who served together in the House in 2025, Llew Jones and Zack Wirth.

It may be the highest-profile primary of the current GOP tug-of-war, but far from the only one.

- We have 40-plus contested primaries where each side of this divide, the more hard-right conservatives versus the other side of the Republican Party, it's about as bitter as I've ever seen it and certainly probably the most expensive as I've ever seen it.

- [Sam] Llew Jones is a prominent Conrad business owner and a 22-year veteran of the state legislature, known for crunching numbers and working across the aisle.

Last session, he was the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, a position with a lot of power over the state budget.

- Oh yeah, it looks alright.

We have a war between those that wanna make a difference and those that wanna make a statement, which is why I'll put the actual track record, the workhorse track record, up against the show pony track record any day.

- [Sam] Zack Wirth runs a guest ranch north of Helena and is leaving his House seat of four years to take on Jones.

He said the decision to run was his alone, but not without some nudging from party leadership.

- He said, "Do you want to go to the Senate?"

And I says, "No way in hell," but I will for this purpose, because I think the people of Montana are going to be better off if we can replace and get some fresh blood.

- [Judge] Mr.

Chairman.

- [Sam] Longtime politics reporter Mike Dennison, now retired, says some version of this fight has been going on for nearly two decades.

Before the 2013 session, Dennison watched the soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Art Wittich steer the party to the right, only to be stymied by a small Republican bloc.

In an email from around that time, Wittich directed his faction to purge the party of defectors like Jones.

- But it's the fact that intent matters.

- The people within this group that often side with the Democrats on certain issues do look to Llew Jones as one of their leaders, because he knows so much about how things run.

- [Sam] In the 2025 session, Jones and others in his caucus worked with Democrats and Governor Gianforte to overpower the hard-line conservatives on big issues like property tax, Medicaid expansion, and judicial reform.

Although Jones served in the House last session, it was the story of nine senators bucking the party who earned the attention of national news outlets and the moniker "Nasty Nine."

- And I think the last session really just exacerbated that, because we had the group of nine right from the get-go rebelling and toppling the leadership in the Senate, and rendering the leadership in the Senate basically ineffectual for the entire session right out of the gate.

So I think that just really kind of elevated the animosity between the two sides.

(people clapping) - [Sam] After the 2025 session ended, the Montana GOP elected none other than Art Wittich to serve as the state chair.

And soon after, the party began picking sides.

- So that election of Art Wittich was one signal out to the greater Republican Party statewide that we actually want people held accountable when they don't do what they should be doing.

- [Sam] Darin Gaub is the chair of the Republican Central Committee in Lewis and Clark County, which includes a portion of Senate District 9.

In April, the committee took an unprecedented step.

- I move that the Lewis and Clark Republican Central Committee endorse Zack Wirth.

- [Council] Second.

- Normally it's been more tradition than requirement.

You stay out of the primary election entirely and let it just run.

Then, whoever's left after the primary, you get behind that person and you try to get them across the finish line.

That's what's changing.

That's what you witnessed, was this central committee saying, in a few races, there are clearly two candidates or so who are very different.

And the best one that's in alignment with the Constitution and the principles of limited government and the state GOP platform is person B.

- [Sam] Vicky Baker also plays a leadership role in the Teton County Central Committee, serving as treasurer.

Baker told us the central committee won't even meet until after the primaries are over, though she supports Llew Jones as an individual.

- Because the central committee does not pick candidates, I think that has allowed us personally to support the people we wanna support, and we can do it whatever way we want.

- [Sam] Even so, whatever support Republican candidates get at the county level is competing for attention against outside groups spending huge amounts of money from often-undisclosed donors, to push and pull state legislative seats.

Sixteen candidates, including Llew Jones, have employed the services of Fireweed Analytics, a campaign strategy company with connections to the Democratic Party.

And as of the latest campaign finance reporting deadline, centrist Republicans also got a nearly $800,000 boost from a PAC called Conservatives for Montana, much of which came from two progressive dark-money groups based in Wyoming.

And on the other side, Americans for Prosperity, a far-right advocacy group associated with the Koch brothers, reported over $400,000 spent supporting candidates like Zack Wirth.

Accountability in State Government, a Montana-based PAC, is funneling an $825,000 check from a dark-money group based in Maryland.

- So we're talking already this year of $2 million being spent by outside groups on legislative primaries in Montana.

It's just unheard of that that much money is coming in on these races, where people used to run on like $5,000, $10,000.

And so that shows you how intense this rivalry has become.

- [Sam] Since its beginnings, that rivalry has centered around the question of how big or small the state government should be.

- We have this small group of Republicans, who I often call moderates.

They don't like being called moderates, but we have this small group of Republicans who, I think, kind of feel there are times when we think government has a role to play, to solve problems and do things.

Then we have the majority of the Republican Party, which is much more, I think, libertarian and anti-government, and says it's not the job of government to step in and do these things.

I think that's the tension.

That's the policy difference between the two sides.

- In 2025, Jones left a large fingerprint on a contentious package of property tax reforms that shifted the tax burden away from primary residences for all but the most expensive houses.

It was a signature Gianforte priority with bipartisan support.

At a candidate forum in Choteau in April, Jones and Wirth rehashed the debate from the session.

- In 2021 to 2023, $270 million transferred onto residential, because residential exploded.

This tax bill cut taxes for 400,000 people.

Now, those that are angry, NorthWestern Energy, for example, saved $38 million when it transferred to residential.

Now they're back to about where they were, and they're quite angry, because they would rather shift it a different direction.

But absolutely, it's a great start.

We're gonna have to look at the unintended consequences and make adjustments, but 400,000 Montanans are better off because we made this decision.

- Zack, go ahead.

- I, excuse me, did not support this.

I thought it was too great of a tax shift.

I thought it was playing a lot of dancing around with some of our taxes, like a street shell game almost.

And what people need more is predictability and accountability.

And I think we need to look at a complete overhaul.

Thank you very much.

They want party unity and they want a government that works well, then it means arguing and convincing and persuading those people to also see it our way, which is reducing the size of government.

- I do what I call a grandkids test.

I believe government is too short-visioned, and that we always worry about the two years from now instead of looking forward.

And we don't take into account that our kids and our grandkids are gonna inherit the items we don't take care of.

I feel our grandparents handed us some pretty decent roads, and water and sewer, and we deserve the respect of doing so as well.

- [Sam] Another primary race represented at the forum in Choteau was HD 17, the seat being vacated by Wirth, between Wirth's ideological successor, Justin Cleveland, and Susan Geise, a member of the moderate wing of the party and one-time chair of the Montana GOP.

After the forum, Geise discovered a stack of flyers with AI illustrations of her buddying up with Jon Tester.

- Here we go.

Speaking of AI, here it is, and look, I wonder who snuck up and put this on there.

They didn't even put their name on it.

That's against the law.

- [Attendee] Ask Melanie to follow up on that.

- You know, it's that burr under the saddle blanket.

It just doesn't feel good.

And that bothers me.

We are being led down a path that I don't think we should be going down.

- [Sam] And these days, where goes the Republican Party, goes the state.

- These are the most important races on the ballot in Montana this year, without a doubt, because who wins these primaries determines who controls the 2027 Legislature, who controls the major policy issues facing the state, who controls tax policy, who controls environmental policy, who controls healthcare policy, who controls how we fashion our judiciary?

These are the things that will be decided by the 2027 Legislature, and these races will decide who's in control and who's in power.

- [Sam] For "Impact," I'm Sam Wilson.

- Whoever wins the Senate District 9 primary will have an opponent in the general election.

That'll be Noy Holland, the uncontested Democrat from Choteau.

That's all we have for this episode of "Impact."

You can find all our previous shows on our website or on the PBS app.

If you have feedback, questions, or story ideas for us, send us an email at impact@montanapbs.org.

I'm Hannah Kearse, and from all of us here at Montana PBS, thank you for watching.

(somber music) - [Announcer] Major funding for "Impact" comes from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

Funding also comes from viewers like you, who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

(gentle music)