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‘Bring him back’: Eastern Iowans protest deportation of 20-year-old West Liberty High alum
‘It is important to stress that Pascual has no criminal record, and has consistently complied with ICE requirements throughout his time here’
Jul. 9, 2025 2:54 pm
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Dolfi and Barbara Kalm, both 83 years old, attended their first political protest Wednesday morning.
“It’s our first protest, and probably not our last,” Barbara told The Gazette.
The protest was outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Cedar Rapids, and was on behalf of Pascual Pedro, a 20-year-old West Liberty resident and former high school soccer player who was detained last Tuesday at a regular check-in with ICE. Pedro was deported less than a week later, just before his lawyer attempted to file a request for a stay of removal.
Pedro, now 20, came to the United States from Guatemala when he was 13, with his father who was later deported. He stayed under supervised release in West Liberty with his grandparents, who have lived in the U.S. since the 1990s, and attended annual check-in appointments with ICE. He was well-known in his community, playing soccer for the West Liberty High School team and working for his grandfather’s siding company with a work permit.
Dolfi Kalm said Pedro’s story resonated with him, an immigrant and a former coach for the Mount Vernon volleyball team, where he said he tried to teach students the importance of following rules and laws. Kalm said it broke his heart to hear about a student-athlete who had been doing everything he was supposed to do and still found himself locked up and removed from the country.
Dolfi was born in Romania and came to the United States with his family when he was 7 years old, after spending a few years in a displaced persons camp. He said after hearing Pedro’s story, he keeps thinking about what he would have done if at some point in his life he had been told by ICE officers that he had to leave the country where he was raised and built his life.
“I struggle with knowing how people could want a job like this,” he said, gesturing to the ICE building, the lawn of which held dozens of protesters like the Kalms.
The protesters carried posters, with messages like, “No person is illegal,” and “Who Would Jesus Deport?” and chanted “Bring him home,” and “Pascual belongs here.”
Former classmates of Pedro’s who attended the protest said they were shocked when they found out from Father Guillermo Treviño Jr., the parish priest of St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty, that Pedro had been detained.
“It’s shocking, cause we know him. I couldn’t believe it,” Jacky Juarez said.
Dominic Hernandez said he played soccer with Pedro during all four years of high school, and although they weren’t the closest of friends, he could see Pedro’s dedication to his community and to his sport.
“When it came to the sport, he would do anything for it,” Hernandez said.
Pastor Peggy Garrigues, from the Solon United Methodist Church, spoke at the protest and read a letter that she wrote to be delivered to lawmakers Thursday, when protesters will organize again, in Davenport, and visit the offices of U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Sen. Joni Ernst.
“It is important to stress that Pascual has no criminal record, and has consistently complied with ICE requirements throughout his time here. His detention and deportation under these circumstances raises serious concerns about fairness and the proper application of prosecutorial discretion,” she wrote in the letter. “ICE guidance explicitly prioritizes the detention and removal of individuals who pose a threat to public safety or national security. Pascual does not meet any of these criteria. His detention and deportation serves no public interest.”
Before the scheduled protest, community members arrived early to the ICE office in order to accompany another immigrant who had been summoned to appear Wednesday for a meeting with ICE officials. They were organized through Escucha Mi Voz, an Iowa City-based nonprofit that works with immigrants.
German Gramajo-Barrios, originally from Guatemala, has been in the United States for 12 years. During his meeting Wednesday, Gramajo-Barrios said he was told he had the option to either be detained and deported immediately, or to sign a deportation order stating he would return within 30 days, giving him time to pack his things and get his affairs in order before being removed from the country.
Signing the document meant he wouldn’t be able to fight the deportation in immigration court, but he chose that option rather than being detained, saying he felt it was the best course of action for his situation.
Gramajo-Barrios’ wife, who he married in 2014, is a citizen of the United States, and he said he’s hoping to be able to get a visa to return through her.
“The told me, straightforward, that I had two options and that was it. I could fight the case while being detained, but they told me directly that I might not have time, because they are prioritizing deportation cases. The other option is that I go voluntarily and my wife can vouch for me and I can try to return, legally,” he told a reporter, in Spanish.
Gramajo-Barrios said he doesn’t know why he was given the option to stay for 30 additional days and gather his things, when other immigrants who are detained — like Pedro — don’t seem to have been given the same option, but he said he’s grateful for the opportunity, and the support of the protesters who came out Wednesday.
“We don’t all have the same luck and the same cases, and I don’t understand it,” he said, in Spanish. “I am very grateful, because I had the support of all the people from Escucha Mi Voz.”
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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