U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez has invited the wife of detained immigrant rights activist Ravi Ragbir to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.

Ragbir was in federal custody Saturday, several weeks after he was arrested during a routine check-in with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

On Saturday, Velazquez, a Democrat, joined Ragbir's wife, Amy Gottlieb, and other elected officials at a rally in front of the Manhattan office building that houses ICE.

The legislators say the government targeted the 53-year-old native of Trinidad because of his activism as the head of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York that helps immigrants fight deportation.

The government says he should be deported because of a 2001 wire fraud conviction.