US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents have detained an undocumented woman who is a prominent immigration advocate in Colorado.
Jeanette Vizguerra, 53, was reportedly taken into custody by Ice on Monday outside a Target store in the Denver area where she worked, according to her legal representatives, friends and family members.
A Mexican immigrant who entered the US without authorization over 20 years ago, Vizguerra worked as a janitor before owning a moving company.
She gained national attention in 2017 when she took sanctuary in a Denver church to avoid deportation during the first Trump administration.
Vizguerra, who is a grandmother and mother of four children, was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2017.
Her lawyer says she is now being held at a detention facility in Aurora, Colorado.
An Ice spokesperson confirmed her arrest to the Guardian, and said Vizguerra was arrested “without incident” on Monday and would “remain in Ice custody pending removal from the United States”.
The spokesperson described Vizguerra as “a convicted criminal alien from Mexico who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge” and who “illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, on Dec 24, 1997, and has received legal due process in US immigration court”.
On Tuesday, lawyers representing Vizguerra filed a writ of habeas corpus in court, urging Ice to bring Vizguerra before the court to determine if her detention is lawful.
Vizguerra was charged in 2009 with driving without a license or insurance and for having an expired license plate. Court records show that those charges were dismissed. Her attorney at the time noted, per CNN, that she was also charged in connection with using a fake social security number on a job application.
She pleaded guilty to “attempted possession of a forged instrument”, which the network noted prompted heightened scrutiny from immigration authorities. She spent the next several years appealing multiple deportation orders.
Vizguerra has had several stays during her attempts to seek citizenship, per CBS News, and sought refuge at churches.
Jordan Garcia of the American Friends Service Committee, who has been in contact with Vizguerra’s lawyer and family and spoke with the Associated Press, said Vizguerra had been trying to gain a visa since leaving sanctuary in churches in 2020.
Her arrest has sparked outrage among immigration advocates, as well as those in her community and Colorado leaders.
The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition has demanded Vizguerra’s immediate release.
The coalition described her as “a beloved mother, grandmother, and longtime community leader” and said that her family received a call on Monday morning from her, telling them that she was inside the immigration detention center.
“Vizguerra has fought her own deportation since 2009 while advocating for immigrant rights, labor protections and family unity,” the news release from the coalition read.
The statement said: “Ice had no reason to detain her,” and added: “This cruel and unnecessary action is causing irreparable harm to her family and community.
“It is clear she is being targeted for her community organizing and critiques of the deportation system as well as her outspoken defense of human rights,” it continued.
The Colorado governor, Jared Polis, a Democrat, described Vizguerra as a someone who “has spent decades in our country, helping the community, has a job, has no history of violence, is not a threat to the community, and above all else, deserves due process pursuant to the law”.
He urged Donald Trump and Ice to “focus their actions on violent offenders” and to be “more transparent with states they are operating in”.
The Denver mayor, Mike Johnston, denounced the arrest, and said that Vizguerra’s arrest and detainment was “not about safety” but rather, “this is Putin-style persecution of political dissidents.”
The Colorado senator Michael Bennet said he was “deeply concerned about Ice’s actions to detain her without any due process, like a deportation order.
“Ice should ensure Jeanette has legal counsel and immediately release her,” Bennet added.
The Colorado senator John Hickenlooper added: “Targeting a mother who has been an active part of our Colorado community for nearly three decades will not fix our broken immigration system or secure our border.”
On Tuesday evening, dozens of supporters of Vizguerra protested outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, as reported by CBS News, calling for her release.
In a GoFundMe made by one of Vizguerra’s daughters, Luna Baez describes her mother as “the rock of our family at all times”.
“Not only is she an incredible and resilient parent but I got to see her as this great fighting warrior that is never scared of anything, we grew up seeing her always fight for her community,” Baez wrote.
The GoFundMe page had raised more than $50,000 as of Wednesday morning and a petition calling for Vizguerra’s release has more than 7,700 signatures.
