DENVER (KDVR) — Community members gathered outside the Aurora Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility after a well-known immigration activist was reportedly taken into custody.
According to the American Friends Services Committee, a nonprofit that supports immigrant rights, Jeanette Vizguerra was taken into custody by ICE on Monday.
The AFSC said “ICE acted without a valid deportation order and without notifying Ms. Vizguerra or her lawyers” when she was taken into custody Monday. The rights group said in a Tuesday press release that it appears ICE is “readying to possibly deport her even though the agency knows they don’t have a valid deportation order.”
The American Friends Services Committee released the following statement from Vizguerra’s children, “We do not understand – why she is detained? It makes no sense when nothing has changed in her case. We are asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement to please review what her lawyer sent, allow her phone calls with us and to immediately release her.”
FOX31’s Nicole Fierro is at the detention center where she learned protestors gathered at 10:30 p.m. on Monday to show support for Vizguerra.
Later Monday morning, the American Friends Services Committee provided updates and said Vizguerra’s legal team began filing a habeas with the district court to challenge “her unlawful detention by ICE.”
FOX31 has reached out to ICE for additional information about Vizguerra’s reported detainment and is waiting to hear back.
Vizguerra sought sanctuary in Denver church
Vizguerra came to the United States from Mexico in 1997 with her husband and eldest daughter. According to the American Friends Services Committee, she has been fighting her own deportation since 2009. In 2017, Vizguerra, a mother to three American-born children, took sanctuary in a Denver church as she faced deportation.
During her time in the U.S., she has become an activist for immigration rights. In 2017, Vizguerra was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
Lawmakers speak out about detainment
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet posted on social media about Vizguerra’s detainment and said, “Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother and pillar in her community. I am 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.”
Fellow U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper also posted on social media and said, “There are serious concerns about ICE’s actions to detain Jeanette Vizguerra. 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.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston also issued a statement on Vizguerra’s arrest.
Let’s be clear what happened today. This is not immigration enforcement intended to keep our country safe. This is Putin-style persecution of political dissidents. Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother of U.S. citizens. She works at Target. She’s the founder of a local non-profit.
This is the great lie of the Trump Administration. This is not about safety. This is about political theater and political retribution. This doesn’t make this country safer. It makes this country lawless, which is the most unsafe thing any president can do.
Arresting Jeanette is a plain abuse of power to go after someone for their political views without the due process that is a cornerstone of our American values. Now is the time to stand up and demand that ICE and the Trump Administration release Jeanette and give her the due process and legal rights she deserves.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston
This is a developing story and it will be updated as more information becomes available.
