United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed it detained and plans to deport Jeanette Vizguerra, a prominent immigration activist who has drawn attention to the plight of undocumented people in the country.
Immigration advocates, lawmakers and human rights groups have decried the move, pointing to the mother of four’s deep ties to the Colorado community where she has lived for 30 years.
The arrest appears to be the first time US authorities have targeted a prominent immigration activist for deportation during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Supporters say Vizguerra’s detention is aimed at silencing dissent. It comes amid a wider deportation push by the Trump administration, which has rolled back enforcement protections and invoked an 18th-century law in an effort to eject undocumented people from the US.
In a social media post on Wednesday, ICE’s bureau in Denver, Colorado, justified Vizguerra’s arrest by pointing to her past convictions.
She has a 2009 misdemeanour for using a forged Social Security number to find work, as well as a second misdemeanour from 2013 when she briefly returned home to Mexico to visit her dying mother. She was convicted at the time of illegal entry.
“She will remain in ICE custody until her removal from the United States,” ICE said in the post.
However, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, questions whether Vizguerra’s meagre arrest record warrants such treatment.
He acknowledged that she “has a few low-level offenses as a result of her being undocumented”. “But she’s no dangerous radical. That’s just ridiculous,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Instead, he pointed out that she was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2017.
“She is a well-respected advocate in Colorado and nationwide,” Reichlin-Melnick said. “The literal president of the United States has a more serious criminal record.”
Who is Jeanette Vizguerra?
Vizguerra initially came to the US from Mexico City in the 1990s with her husband, who had faced several kidnappings in Mexico. She settled in Colorado, where she began working as a janitor and became involved in labour organising.
Her first brush with US law enforcement came during a traffic stop in 2009, when she was found to be carrying a document with the fake Social Security number.
Her conviction kicked off a years-long battle against her deportation – and propelled her to take on more immigration advocacy work, as she endeavoured to protect other undocumented people in Colorado.
She became associated with groups like Colorado’s Rights for All People and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, and she founded the Colorado branch of the organisation Dreamer’s Mothers in Action.
But in 2017, President Trump took office for the first time, with pledges to implement a sweeping immigration crackdown.
Fearing imminent deportation, Vizguerra sought refuge in two Denver-area churches, an act that catapulted her into the national spotlight. A longstanding government policy forbade immigration raids at sensitive locations like churches at the time.
“I decided not to hide my battle against deportation but to fight publicly to draw attention to the unfairness of the system,” Vizguerra wrote in a 2017 op-ed published by The New York Times.
“I wanted to inspire my community to step out of the shadows and raise its voices.”
In May 2017, she received a temporary stay of deportation that allowed her to leave the church’s sanctuary. But she felt forced to return again in 2019 after her visa application was reportedly denied.
She eventually moved out of the church in 2020. The administration of US President Joe Biden later granted her a temporary “stay of deportation”.
In Time Magazine’s 2017 profile of Vizguerra, actress America Ferrera praised the activist for making the “bold and risky” decision to go public with her struggle.
“The current Administration has scapegoated immigrants, scaring Americans into believing that undocumented people like Jeanette are criminals,” Ferrera wrote.
“She shed blood, sweat and tears to become a business owner, striving to give her children more opportunities than she had. This is not a crime. This is the American Dream.”
Vizguerra was arrested on Monday in the car park of the Target where she worked.
Deportation push
Vizguerra’s arrest comes amid a mass deportation push under Trump, who campaigned on promises to stop undocumented migration and surge the number of removals.
Since taking office, Trump has swiftly moved away from Biden administration policies that de-prioritised immigration actions against low-level and nonviolent offenders.
Recent ICE enforcement sweeps have seen the arrests of thousands of individuals with no criminal record, despite Trump’s claim he would focus on those considered threats to public safety and national security.
In January, the Trump administration also rolled back a longstanding policy that prohibited immigration enforcement in sensitive locations, including churches, schools and medical facilities.
Earlier this month, it began invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to increase expulsions, although a federal judge has temporarily paused its use. That act has only been used three times prior, and only in cases of war.
Critics have also accused the Trump administration of targeting foreign nationals – including legal permanent residents – for their political views.
That includes the attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder who led pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, as well as the expulsion of Brown University professor Rasha Alawieh, who was teaching in the US on a work visa.
What has the response been?
Some of the most strident condemnations of Vizguerra’s arrest have come from local elected officials.
In a widely shared video statement on Tuesday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said her detention was not “intended to keep our country safe”.
“This is Putin-style persecution of political dissidents,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leader accused of human rights abuses.
US Senator Michael Bennet praised Vizguerra as a “pillar of the community”. Meanwhile, Governor Jared Polis said the Trump administration owed the public transparency in its proceedings.
“I have met with and know Jeanette Vizguerra,” Polis said in a statement. “Jeanette is a mother and grandmother, 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.”
Groups that have worked closely with Vizguerra, including the Quaker American Friends Service Committee and the Domestic National Workers Alliance, have also rallied public support for her case. Dozens of organisations signed a letter calling for her release.
“Let’s be clear: These attacks are intended to provoke fear and silence us, but we will protect each other,” the Domestic National Workers Alliance posted on X.
Supporters on Tuesday gathered outside of the Aurora detention centre where Vizguerra was being held. Another protest was planned for Denver on Wednesday.
On a GoFundMe page to raise legal funds, Vizguerra’s daughter, Luna Baez, appealed for community support.
“My mom has fought relentlessly for her community and it is time for all of us to now come together and show all the support for her like she has done to us,” she said.
What comes next?
Vizguerra’s lawyers have filed an emergency appeal, saying her detention violates her right to due process.
In a statement to The Washington Post, lawyer Laura Lichter said immigration authorities were relying on a 2013 removal order “rife with procedural flaws”.
“No lawful removal order exists, and ICE would have known this for years. If ICE proceeds with trying to remove her without legal authority, it sends a chilling message about the agency’s disregard for due process and the rule of law,” she said.