Community members fight for Froid man facing immigration charge

GREAT FALLS — Roberto Orozco-Ramirez pleaded not guilty Monday to a federal charge of reentering the United States illegally in U.S. District Court in Great Falls.

The detention hearing arraignment lasted 10 minutes, with about two dozen people in attendance supporting Orozco-Ramirez, many wearing “Orozco Diesel” sweatshirts from his repair business in Froid.

Gathering in the lobby of Missouri River Courthouse, they made the trek up the stairs to a courtroom the Froid community is starting to get familiar with. 

His supporters had driven almost seven hours from Froid, a town of about 200 people in the northeastern reaches of the state, to back one of their own. Among those who made the trek were three of Orozco-Ramirez’s sons. 

Froid is a small community and a “family,” resident Keith Nordlund said on Monday, and Orozco-Ramirez’s arrest has caused frustration and confusion in the small community as to why immigration agents would come after a man who owns a crucial business in Froid and has no criminal record in Roosevelt County.

“I swear it was 20 below, and he was working on school buses to get them so they had heat so these kids could make it to an event,” Nordlund said. “You don’t see people do that.”

Orozco-Ramirez’s arrest by federal agents has put a spotlight on immigration in Montana and in the wake of massive deportation efforts by the Trump Administration. Across the state, municipalities have grappled with how to handle federal immigration agents in their towns, and many people have voiced their frustration with the tactics used by federal agents.

In the Froid area, it’s more common to see Border Patrol agents now, community members said, and Orozco-Ramirez’s arrest came after a significant operation that included plainclothes agents, according to court documents.

Court documents state two of Orozco-Ramirez’s brothers were arrested by Border Patrol agents, the first in March 2025 and second in July. It didn’t say if they were removed from the country.

Government lawyers told federal Judge John Johnston that Orozco-Ramirez represented a flight risk on Monday in court, though they did not give a reason. The federal government appeared to not be pursuing a second charge of threatening a peace officer, with Orozco-Ramirez’s lawyer, a public defender, saying it wasn’t on the indictment handed down by a grand jury.

Community members and family flowed out of the courthouse after the short hearing, talking among themselves and with reporters. Part of the frustration is with how Orozco-Ramirez has been portrayed by the federal government, which included allegations he was a criminal — despite also stating he had no criminal record — in a deposition by a Border Patrol agent based out of the Plentywood station.

The Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office said Orozco-Ramirez never posed a threat to the community in a media release.

Sports and the school are binding factors in the community, and several people in attendance said their kids and the Orozco family had been on various sports teams together.

“We all have children, they have children all throughout the whole school, different ages,” Laurie Young said. “So pretty much the entire community is affected by this.”

Nordlund said they’re hoping for an Order of Supervision from U.S. Immigration officials, which would allow Orozco-Ramirez to stay in Montana.

“I know a lot of people asking what they can do to help,” Nordlund said. “Call the politicians. Call them. Call them, call them, call them, call them. Your local ones, the state level. Call, call, call.”