The agency rebutted that it targeted Mr. Gramajo after he reached out, saying instead that it received an “anonymous tip that he was residing in Houston.” The agency noted that he had been convicted of a misdemeanor 20 years ago and had been deported in 2004.

“To portray him in one-sided media reports — based on vague and unsubstantiated allegations — as a victim of some ‘covert’ law enforcement operation is an affront to public safety; and it does a great disservice to the thousands of law enforcement officers who risk their lives daily to protect our communities, and our country,” the agency said in the statement.

The Trump administration, in pledging to more aggressively enforce the country’s immigration laws, has said it is expanding the scope of who it targets for deportations. For example, President Barack Obama had directed agents to focus proceedings on immigrants convicted of serious crimes, but Mr. Trump scrapped that practice, and this summer the administration said it would step up its efforts to deport families of undocumented migrants.

Randy Capps , director of research for United States programs at the Migration Policy Institute , a nonprofit based in Washington, said it was not surprising that Mr. Gramajo was targeted because of his deportation history and his misdemeanor conviction.

But Mr. Capps said the case added more evidence that community leaders, particularly those fighting on behalf of immigrants, were being targeted. He pointed to the detention in New York last year of Ravi Ragbir, an immigration rights activist.

“The disturbing thing about this is there’s a pattern,” Mr. Capps said.

ICE said in a statement on Monday that it “does not target unlawfully present aliens for arrest based on advocacy positions they hold or in retaliation for critical comments they make.”

Mr. Gramajo, who was born in Guatemala, first came to the United States in 1994 on a tourist visa, his lawyer, Mr. Gonzalez, said. He overstayed his visa.