Border Patrol Activity Alarms Residents
Longtime Froid community member Roberto Orozco Ramirez, 42, was taken into custody over the weekend following enforcement efforts by U.S. Border Patrol. United State Border Patrol agents had been staged in the Froid area near the Orozco family’s residence and place of business for much of the previous week, prompting concerns and outrage from area residents according to social media posts supporting Orozco Ramirez and his family. Orozco Ramirez, who is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, had been working and raising his family in the area for more than a decade without incident.
According to a Sunday, Jan. 25, press release, Roosevelt County Sheriff Jason Frederick was apprised of the situation and offered to serve as an intermediary between Border Patrol and Orozco Ramirez’s attorney. The press release read, “An agreement was eventually reached, and the man surrendered peacefully to Sheriff Frederick at approximately 1308 hours today.”
As of Monday, Orozco Ramirez was being held at the Roosevelt County Detention Center awaiting transport to a federal facility. According to Frederick, the operation did not involve the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other area agencies. “This USBP operation was conducted independently of local law enforcement,” Frederick said. Area residents began raising concerns on social media last week after Border Patrol vehicles were seen staged in Froid on Main Street near the Orozco residence and south of town near the family business, Orozco Diesel. By Sunday, Jan. 25, signs protesting Border Patrol activity had been placed along the highway, with a small number of residents braving subzero temperatures to make their feelings known. Signs had messages such as “America wants families like the Orozcos.”
Frederick emphasized that Orozco Ramirez was not a threat to the community: “It’s important to note that the man and his family have been productive members of the community and have had no negative interactions with local law enforcement since they moved here over a decade ago,” Frederick said. “The man posed no danger to the community at any point during this incident.”
Chase White has coached three of Orozco Ramirez’s sons including two on this year’s Froid/Lake’s boys’ basketball team.
“The biggest thing about them is how respectful they are,” White said of the Orozco sons. “They are very quiet kids. They are hard working and would do everything that you ask them to do.”
White describes them as “great kids” and said he would trust them with his own children.
“It’s not a political thing. I care about their well being more than anything,” White said. “We want them to be OK, that’s the biggest thing for us.”
Marvin Qualley has probably known Roberto Orozco Ramirez as long as anyone in the area. Qualley was his first customer when Orozco Ramirez started a business in Froid.
“He’s one of the kindest, hardest working men I’ve know,” Qualley said. “I wish we had a hundred more men around here like him.”
Qualley, who drives bus for Froid’s school, is impressed how Orozco Ramirez works with his children and seeks for ways for them to always do better in school.
“He’s very family-oriented,” Qualley said. “He’s very dependable and honest. It’s a great family, very polite and hard working.”
At press time, efforts were under way by area residents to contact Montana’s congressional delegation. Community members have been donating to the Orozco family to help with legal costs through the Christoffersen Law Trust Account and in donation jars at places of business in Froid.
