Air Force Member with San Angelo Ties Seeks Help After Wife's 3-Month ICE Detention

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — Colby Grafa, an active-duty U.S. Air Force member from San Angelo, is appealing for public help after his Guatemalan wife was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for three months. 

In a Facebook post, Grafa said his wife went to an ICE facility three months ago to update her address with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services after the family transferred to an Air Force base in Texas. Instead of assistance, she was detained and moved to a detention center. 

Grafa has served five years in the Air Force and said the couple has a 1-year-old son. His wife holds a military dependent ID, work permit, Social Security number, and Texas ID, with citizenship applications pending through legal channels, he wrote. 

She was nursing their son at the time of detention, which Grafa said violates ICE directives against detaining breastfeeding mothers. 

Grafa described a recent court hearing where officials discussed possible deportation to Ecuador, Honduras, or Mexico — countries where his wife has no connections.

"I feel betrayed as I have been willing to put my life on the line to defend this nation, and this is how I am treated," Grafa wrote. "My wife is not a dangerous person and doesn’t have any type of criminal history. Our 1-year-old son deserves to have both his Mom and Dad raising him."

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