HELENA — A man arrested by federal immigration officers in July has left the country.
According to Upper Sever Law, Christopher Martinez Marvan, 31, accepted voluntary removal to Mexico at the end of July rather than remain in detention. He is no longer in custody and is no longer in the United States.
Martinez, a Mexican citizen, lived in Montana with his wife and children, who are U.S. citizens.
He was arrested on July 1, 2025, after being pulled over for having an expired vehicle registration.
(Watch full body camera footage of the arrest)
At the time of his arrest, Helena police coordinated with U.S. Marshals, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol on an arrest for Anderson DeJesus Bastidas Linares, who is accused of assault with a weapon and partner or family member assault. Homeland Security Investigations is a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
While conducting their search, officers saw a man they believed to match the suspect's description. Helena Police conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, which was found to have expired registration. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Christopher Martinez of Helena, not Linares.
Helena Police said in a statement that upon verifying his identity, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol discovered that he was subject to a federal detainer, and he was subsequently taken into custody by federal authorities.
A lawsuit was filed by Upper Seven Law in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, arguing that Martinez’s initial detention was unlawful. The judge ruled in the case that his court did not have jurisdiction over the detention of Martinez, noting that the authority was with an Immigration Court and its appeal process. After exhausting the administrative process, they could then ask the U.S. Court of Appeals to review the case.
Federal authorities said in a court filing that Martinez had crossed illegally into the U.S. multiple times, including four times in 2021. They also said he had applied to enter in 2014 and 2018, but was denied, and that he was currently under a 10-year ban because of his unlawful entries.
