A legal aid defense team, in a civil rights challenge to the governor's border enforcement program, is asking an appellate court to check what it considers the state's abuse of its prosecutorial powers in immigration cases.

The Fourth District Court of Appeals heard oral argument Thursday in Ex Parte Dominguez-Ortiz to consider a request that misdemeanor criminal trespass charges against him and two others similarly situated be dismissed by ordering the trial court to reverse its denial of relief.