Houston immigration activist detained by agents after inviting ICE to town hall

A Houston community organizer was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday after inviting the agency to a community event where he had planned to discuss worries about President Trump's immigration raids.

The Houston Chronicle reported that 40-year-old Roland Gramajo, a father of five, organized a town hall last month to talk about the raids with Democratic Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia. He extended an invitation to ICE representatives, who declined to attend.

Garcia said she witnessed three white men acting "suspiciously" by taking pictures of the crowd, which was mostly Hispanic.

Three weeks after the event, Gramajo was detained on Sept. 5 by immigration agents while on his way to work. In a statement, the agency said Gramajo had been deported to Guatemala in 2004 but committed a felony by illegally returning to the United States. His deportation order was reinstated after his arrest.

Gramajo immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 with his mother and they settled in Houston. He met his future wife while attending a Houston high school.

But a prank that Gramajo and his classmates played on a friend by taking the teenager's car for a ride led school district police to charge Gramajo with burglary of a vehicle. The infraction followed Gramajo until he was eventually deported after he was stopped for a minor traffic violation.

Gramajo returned to the U.S. just a few months later and quickly became a highly regarded community activist in Houston, specifically advocating for Guatemalan immigrants.

He founded the Guatemalan Organizational Center, a nonprofit group advocating for the Guatemalan community in Texas, and he assisted in planning the Fiestas Patrias parade in downtown Houston to celebrate Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner declared Gramajo's May 17 birthday an official day in the city in 2018 for being a "true leader with an exceptional drive to improve the quality of life" in Houston.

Gramajo is currently being held in a federal detention facility in the Houston area. He faces a 20-year ban from the U.S. and immediate deportation. He will only be eligible to have the ban waived by the U.S. government after spending 10 years in exile.

Raed Gonzalez, Gramajo's lawyer, has requested the government permit him a stay of deportation "for humanitarian reasons" or release him on parole.

"He's not a risk to anybody," Gonzalez said. "This guy only has a very minor offense from when he was a kid. Exceptions have to be made, especially when so many U.S. citizens are involved. We're talking about five kids."

Gramajo's family has set up a GoFundMe asking for support now that he is facing a substantial ban from the U.S.