United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that it had been detained and plans to expel Jeanette Vizguerra, an eminent immigration activist who drew attention to the fate of undocumented people in the country.
Immigration defenders, legislators and human rights groups moved this decision, pointing the mother of the four -year -old deep ties with the Colorado community where she has lived for 30 years.
The arrest seems to be the first time that the American authorities have targeted an eminent immigration activist for the expulsion during the second term of President Donald Trump.
Supporters say that the detention of Vizguer aims to silence dissent. This comes in the midst of a broader expulsion by the Trump administration, which brought back the application protections of the law and invoked a 18th century law in order to eject undocumented people from the United States.
In social media job On Wednesday, the ICE office in Denver, Colorado, justified the arrest of Vizguerra by showing its past convictions.
She has an offense of 2009 for having used a forged social security number to find work, as well as a second offense of 2013 when she briefly returned home to Mexico to visit her dying mother. She was sentenced at the time of illegal entry.
“She will remain in police custody until her withdrawal from the United States,” Ice said in the post.
However, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a principal researcher at American Immigration Council, wonders if the meager record for arrest of Vizguerra justifies such treatment.
He recognized that she “had some low-level offenses following her non-documement”. “But she is not a dangerous radical. It’s just ridiculous,” wrote On the social media platform X.
Instead, he stressed that she was named one of the 100 most influential people in Time magazine in 2017.
“It is a respected defender of Colorado and the country,” said Reichlin-Melnick. “The United States literal president has a more serious criminal record.”
Who is Jeanette Vizguerra?
Vizguerra first came to the United States of Mexico City in the 1990s with her husband, who had faced several kidnappings in Mexico. She settled in Colorado, where she started working as a concierge and was involved in the organization of work.
Her first brush with the American police occurred when stopping traffic in 2009, when she was noted as a document with the false social security number.
His conviction launched a battle for several years against his deportation – and propelled her to undertake more plea for immigration, while she was trying to protect other undocumented people in Colorado.
It has become associated with groups such as the rights of Colorado for all people and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, and it founded the colorado branch of the Dreamer’s Mothers in Action organization.
But in 2017, President Trump took office for the first time, with commitments to implement a repression of immigration.
Fearing an imminent deportation, Vizguerra sought refuge in two churches in the Denver region, an act which catapulted it under national spotlights. A long -standing government policy prohibited immigration raids in sensitive places such as churches at the time.
“I decided not to hide my battle against expulsion but to fight publicly to draw attention to the injustice of the system,” wrote Vizguerra in a 2017 editorial published by the New York Times.
“I wanted to inspire my community to get out of the shadows and raise his voice.”
In May 2017, she received a temporary deportation stay which allowed her to leave the church sanctuary. But she felt forced to return in 2019 after her visa request was refused.
She finally moved from the church in 2020. The administration of the American president Joe Biden later granted her a “deportation stay”.
In the profile of Vizguerra in 2017 of Time Magazine magazine, actress America Ferrera congratulated the activist for making the decision “daring and risky” to make public her struggle.
“The current administration has scapegoat immigrants, frightening the Americans believing that undocumented people like Jeanette are criminals,” wrote Ferrera.
“She shed blood, sweat and tears to become the owner of a business, trying to give her children more opportunities than she had. It is not a crime. It’s the American dream. “
Vizguerra was arrested Monday in the target parking lot where she worked.
Expulsion
The arrest of Vizguerra intervenes in the middle of a mass deportation thrust under Trump, which campaigned on the promises of stopping the undocumented migration and overcoming the number of moves.
Since his entry into office, Trump has quickly moved from Biden administration policies that have disabled immigration actions against low -level and non -violent offenders.
Recent scans in the application of ice have seen the arrests of thousands of people without a criminal record, despite Trump’s pretension that he would focus on threats considered to be public security and national security.
In January, the Trump administration also returned a long -standing policy which prohibited the application of immigration to sensitive places, including churches, schools and medical facilities.
Earlier this month, he began to invoke the law on extraterrestrial enemies of 1798 to increase the expulsions, although a federal judge has temporarily interrupted his use. This act was only used three times before, and only in the event of war.
Critics have also accused the Trump administration of targeting foreign nationals – including legal permanent residents – for their political opinions.
This includes the attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a green cards holder who led pro-Palestine demonstrations at Columbia University, as well as the expulsion of Brown University Professor, Rasha Alawieh, who taught in the United States on a work visa.
What was the answer?
Some of the most strident convictions in the arrest of Vizguerra came from local elected officials.
In a video declaration widely shared on Tuesday, the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston, said that his detention was not “intended to ensure the security of our country”.
“This is the Putin style persecution of political dissidents,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leader accused of human rights violations.
American senator Michael Bennet congratulated as a “pillar of the community”. Meanwhile, Governor Jared Polis said that the Trump administration owed public transparency in its procedure.
“I met and known 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, deserves regular procedure under the law.”
The groups that worked closely with Vizguerra, including the American Friends Service Committee and the National World Alliance Quaker, also joined public support to its case. Dozens of organizations have signed a letter calling for its release.
“Let’s be clear: these attacks are intended to provoke fear and be silent, but we will protect each other,” published the National National Workers Alliance on X.
Supporters gathered Tuesday outside the Aurora detention center where Vizguerra was detained. Another demonstration was scheduled for Denver on Wednesday.
On a GoFundme page to collect legal funds, Vizguerra’s daughter, Luna Baez, called for community support.
“My mother fought tirelessly for her community and it’s time for all of us to come together now and show all the support of her as she did,” she said.
What comes next?
Vizguerra lawyers have filed an emergency call, saying that his detention violates his right to regular procedure.
In a statement to the Washington Post, lawyer Laura Lichter said that the immigration authorities were based on a 2013 referral order “in the grip of procedural defects”.
“No prescription for legal dismissal exists, and the ice would have been able to have known it for years. If the ice continues to try to withdraw it without legal authority, this sends a scary message on the agency’s contempt for regular procedure and the rule of law,” she said.
