Montana
Anti-immigration group organized Northwest Montana lawmakers' trip to southern border
Two Northwest Montana lawmakers toured the southern border in March with NumbersUSA, a self-described immigration reform group that organizations who track extremists say is tied to the racist founder of the modern anti-immigration movement.
State Reps. Steve Gunderson, R-Libby, and Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, were among a small group of Montana legislators to visit the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a trip organized by NumbersUSA. Both said they were unaware of NumbersUSA’s history or reputation.
NumbersUSA has often been described as an anti-immigrant group whose primary goal is pressuring elected officials to reject pro-immigration legislation and immigration reform, according to Stephen Piggot, a researcher and program director at the Western States Center, a Portland, Oregon-based group that tracks extremists.
“I have no issue with elected officials visiting the [southern border] … but for elected officials to accept an invite to tour the border with a group like NumbersUSA is deeply problematic,” said Piggot, who has spent the last 15 years keeping tabs on NumbersUSA.
The group was founded in 1996 by Roy Beck, who had very close ties to John Tanton, founder of the modern anti-immigration movement, Piggot said.
Described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as holding white nationalist beliefs, Tanton argued that a “European-American majority” is required to preserve American culture, according to the civil rights and racial justice nonprofit. Tanton, a Michigan-based ophthalmologist who died in 2019, spearheaded efforts through the group ProEnglish that opposed bilingual education and the translating of government documents into other languages.
Over time, Tanton created a network of immigration organizations, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies. NumbersUSA was founded by Beck, whom Tanton had described as his “heir apparent,” Piggot said.
“[Tanton] certainly had a role in it some way of forming this organization,” Piggot said.
The three groups profoundly shaped the immigration debate in the United States, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“I still think [NumbersUSA is] influential, I would still consider them to be one of the three main anti-immigration groups on the Hill,” Piggot said.
When asked about the group’s history, Mitchell said he had “never heard of them.”
“I don’t agree with radical movements, ideas or ideals, be it ideas backed by liberal, white nationalism, black, brown, yellow or white people,” Gunderson said. “Illegal immigration is a cross-cultural American problem. I remain colorblind to ideals and movements but focus on the national issue of illegal immigration which remains illegal.”
NumbersUSA disputes how it is characterized by the Southern Poverty Law Center and other extremist monitoring groups.
In an April opinion piece published by the Denver Post, NumbersUSA leaders argued it is a policy group with mainstream positions on immigration reform.
“This allegation would be laughable if it weren’t so serious,” wrote Leon Kolankiewicz, the scientific director of the group, in the piece.
According to Kolankiewicz, Beck founded NumbersUSA in 1996 to advocate for solutions proposed by Barbara Jordan, then-chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, who recommended scaling back legal immigration and cracking down on illegal immigration.
“The term ‘white supremacy’ should never be used around any of us, other than to state our firm opposition to the ideology,” Kolankiewicz wrote.
NumbersUSA also includes a page on its website dedicated to “No Immigrant Bashing,” which states that the group encourages Americans concerned about immigration to refrain from anger toward “the foreign-born who live among us.”
Piggot said that the history of the group, specifically its ties to Tanton and his racist rhetoric, cannot be erased. The group hasn’t “cleaned house,” Piggot said, and there isn’t much of a difference between what the group looked like and stood for 20 years ago to today.
Piggot encourages legislators and citizens to research groups addressing immigration to see where they came from.
“It’s totally fine to go down to the border, but you need to be thoughtful,” Piggot said.
FOLLOWING THE trip, both Gunderson and Mitchell expressed concern for what they saw in terms of border security, an influx of immigrants and a lack of federal action.
“There are problems that are actually present at both borders, the southern border being much more of a problem. Fentanyl, human trafficking, illegal immigrants … the same issues exist at both borders, it’s just a difference in magnitude for the southern border,” said Gunderson, reflecting on his trip.
Gunderson said he learned of the trip from other state legislators. Andrew Good, the NumberUSA’s director of state government relations, said that if enough people were interested they could arrange a tour. According to NumbersUSA, each legislator paid for their own trip. Good led the group.
Gunderson said he gained knowledge from other legislators about what can hopefully be done at a state level during his time at the border.
He said the effort that migrants made to cross the border left an impression on him.
“… That was the one thing that really struck me: Seeing people that are so aggressively doing whatever they have to do to get across the border. It’s the draw of the American dream,” he said. “But at the same time they are breaking our laws and destroying our heritage.”
The trip was the first of its kind, according to Good. The goal was to see the border, learn about its existing infrastructure and talk to people on the ground, he said. The group observed the border at the Yuma sector in Arizona and then traveled to the San Diego area.
“… The states are going to deal with any fallout from illegal immigration as long as illegal immigration [continues to] have significant costs or impacts,” Good said.
Mitchell, a two-term legislator up for re-election this year, stated that it was important for him to tour the southern border because of the “influx of fentanyl, crime, rapes, etc. that many of these illegal migrants are bringing to our state,” Mitchell said in a statement.
“I believe a country isn’t a country without a strong and secure border,” Mitchell said. “I wish I wouldn’t of had to go down to the border, but due to Joe Biden and the Democratic Party’s open border policies, I was left with no choice but to see it with my own eyes and reflect what I saw back to my constituents and the people of Montana.”
Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.
Montana
Montana Supreme Court Decides International Child Custody Case – Transnational Litigation Blog
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act discourages forum shopping in child custody disputes by assigning subject-matter jurisdiction to the court located in the “home state” of the child. In Allen v. Allen, decided on April 21, 2026, the Montana Supreme Court had to determine whether the child’s “home state” was Montana or the Netherlands. This case shines an important spotlight on the importance of timing in international child custody disputes. The left-behind parent’s likelihood of success is strongly correlated with how quickly he or she acts to vindicate their legal rights.
Facts
Jonathan Edward Allen (Father) and Petronella Gerline (Van Oosterom) Allen (Mother) were married in Colorado in 2009. Father is a United States citizen. Mother is a dual citizen of the United States and the Netherlands. Their child (R.A.A.) was born in 2015. In 2020, the family moved from Colorado to Montana.
In August 2023, after Father and Mother began having marital difficulties, Mother and R.A.A. relocated to the Netherlands. In February 2024, Mother filed a petition for divorce and custody with the District Court of Central Netherlands (Netherlands District Court).
In January 2025, Father filed a petition with the District Court of The Hague seeking the return of R.A.A. pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This petition was denied. Although the court held that R.A.A. had been wrongfully removed from the United States, the court reasoned that the one-year automatic return period had passed and that R.A.A. had become settled in her new environment in the Netherlands. This decision was affirmed on appeal.
In September 2025, Father filed an Emergency Motion for Temporary Custody and Petition for Permanent Parenting Plan in Montana state court. That court dismissed the petition on the grounds that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Specifically, it held that it lacked the power to adjudicate the dispute because Montana was no longer the “home state” of R.A.A. Father, acting pro se, appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.
Analysis
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) assigns exclusive subject-matter jurisdiction to courts located in the child’s “home state” when it comes to matters relating to child custody. The “home state” is “the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least 6 consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding.” The UCCJEA specifically provides that courts “shall treat a foreign country as if it were a state of the United States” for purposes of resolving these disputes.
On the facts presented in Allen v. Allen, the Montana Supreme Court correctly held that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to consider Father’s emergency motion. Mother and R.A.A. relocated to the Netherlands in August 2023. Six months later—in February 2024—R.A.A.’s home state shifted to the Netherlands. The Dutch courts—rather than the Montana courts—now had exclusive subject-matter jurisdiction to resolve custody disputes involving R.A.A. Father did not file his motion in Montana until September 2025, which was nineteen months too late.
Conclusion
If Father had filed his suit in Montana before February 2024, he could have shown that Montana was R.A.A.’s “home state” because the child had not yet resided in the Netherlands for six months. The suit was, however, not filed until September 2025.
If Father had filed suit in the Netherlands before August 2024, he could have argued that R.A.A. should be returned to the United States pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction because the child had not yet resided in the Netherlands for a year. The suit was, however, not filed until January 2025.
The key takeaway of Allen v. Allen is the need for speed in international child custody cases. The timelines baked into the relevant laws and treaties mandate that the left-behind parent move quickly to assert their rights. If they are slow off the mark, they be forced to litigate in foreign courts under less favorable legal rules.
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Clark Fork River has long been a defining feature of Missoula, shaping the city’s culture, economy and outdoor lifestyle.
The river is so closely tied to the area that it helped inspire the well-known book and film “A River Runs Through It.” But local conservation advocates say its importance goes far beyond scenery.
“Without the Clark Fork River, Missoula would just be another town,” said Lisa Ronald, Northern Rockies associate conservation director for American Rivers. “We wouldn’t be the River City. I think we’re known in Montana as Missoula the River City, and it’s really because of the Clark Fork River and its central role in business, in economics, in recreation, that really makes Missoula the town that it is.”
Carmen Murill, a field organizer with Wild Montana, said the river is deeply woven into daily life for people who live in Missoula.
“A lot of us would wonder what to do on a beautiful or a rainy summer day,” Murill said. “I mean, it’s really a lifeforce of town. And I think it’s pretty unique that Missoula, as a community is living and breathing on both sides of the river. It’s really like two downtowns but connected by the Clark Fork.”
Conservation groups say protecting the river begins with community involvement.
Advocates encourage residents and visitors to spend time outdoors, whether on a trail, in the woods or along the river, and to learn how they can become better stewards of the environment.
MISSOULA — Sam Forstag edged out Ryan Busse to secure the Democratic nomination in Montana’s 1st Congressional District.
Busse conceded the race to Forstag on Wednesday morning. Forstag had trailed behind Busse Tuesday evening, but he made up ground as the votes were counted into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The other two candidates in the race, Russl Cleveland and Matt Rains, are sitting at third and fourth, respectively.
Forstag leads in close race for Montana’s 1st Congressional District
Forstag spent eight years as a wildland firefighter, including four as a smokejumper, and he’s been vice president of the local National Federation of Federal Employees union. Last week, U.S. House of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, held a rally in Missoula to support Forstag’s campaign.
He told MTN on Tuesday that his campaign has been for the working class.
“We got a whole lot of people here that have been working their tail off to finally get some working-class representation in Washington,” Forstag noted. “So proud of everything we’ve done and so grateful.”
Forstag further noted he wants Montanans to be able to afford groceries, have universal free childcare and restore and expand Affordable Health Care Act subsidies.
“Hearing people’s stories and struggles and commonalities in the ways that we’re all fighting in the system that does not serve us so often, and the government serves corporations and the richest people in this country more than working people. It has been frustrating and saddening, but it has also inspired so much hope in me, like the fixes we can actually make,” he told MTN.
The 1st Congressional District covers much of western Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman. It is currently held by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, who chose not to seek reelection.
By securing the nomination, Forstag is slated tol face off against Libertarian candidate Nick Sheedy and Republican candidate Aaron Flint in November.
-
Politics7 minutes agoSenate rejects an initial attempt to ban Trump’s $1.8-billion ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
-
Science10 minutes agoEmergency room visits during heat waves available to the public in ‘near-real time’ in L.A. County
-
Sports15 minutes agoHow Myles Garrett’s arrival has the Rams — and even Cooper Kupp — talking Aaron Donald return
-
World25 minutes agoRussia kills 12 in Ukraine as Kyiv mourns 707 children killed since 2022
-
News52 minutes agoTrump’s name must come off the Kennedy Center by June 12
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoOvernight military training brings loud flash bangs, simulated gunfire to quiet Pasadena neighborhood
-
Detroit, MI3 hours agoDetroit Lions add UDFA rookie WR during OTAs
-
San Francisco, CA3 hours agoHow to watch San Francisco Giants vs. Milwaukee Brewers
