DENVER—A prominent woman, known for seeking sanctuary in Colorado churches to avoid deportation during the Trump administration, has recently been arrested, according to immigration advocacy groups. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security have not yet confirmed the specifics of Jeanette Vizguerra’s detention.
Vizguerra, a mother of four, was apprehended on Monday at the Target store where she was employed in the Denver area. American Friends Service Committee member Jordan Garcia, who has been in contact with her lawyer and family, shared the news of her arrest.
Since her departure from church sanctuary in 2020, Vizguerra has been striving to secure a visa designated for crime victims, which would grant her legal residence in the United States, Garcia explains.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston criticized the Trump-era policies reported to be behind Vizguerra’s arrest, condemning the act as one of political persecution rather than a matter of national security. Johnston, who recently defended Denver’s sanctuary policies in Congress, urged public action to demand Vizguerra’s release and preservation of her due process rights.
“The arrest is not in the interest of public safety; it reflects tactics akin to political persecution seen under regimes like Putin’s,” Johnston stated.
News of her detention sparked a protest at an ICE facility located in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, where her family believes she is detained. Concerns arose about a possible deportation as buses departed the center, but her family confirmed later she remained there.
“We urge ICE to work expeditiously with her legal team for her immediate release,” the family expressed through a statement from the American Friends Service Committee.
Vizguerra’s legal representatives argue that ICE’s intent to remove her is based on an invalid order. They have filed petitions contesting her detainment both at Denver’s federal court and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Proceeding without legal grounds could undermine due process and the rule of law, attorney Laura Lichter noted in a statement. Vizguerra’s legal battles began in 2009 when she faced deportation after being stopped and discovered with a falsified Social Security card. In 2019, she challenged ICE’s order to deport her, which she argued was nullified when she initially agreed to self-deport.
In an effort to avoid deportation under the first Trump administration, Vizguerra sought refuge in churches beginning in 2017 after a deportation hold was not renewed. Interventions by Senator Michael Bennet and then-Representative Jared Polis (now Colorado’s governor) secured temporary relief via private bills intended to facilitate permanent residency pathways for individual cases. However, these provisions have rarely been made permanent through legislation.
Following the expiration of the hold in 2019, she again took sanctuary but subsequently left church protection in 2020, according to information from the American Friends Service Committee.