Jeanette Vizguerra, who moved from Mexico City to Colorado in 1997 and became known as a janitor and advocate for immigration reform, has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) confirmed to TIME that the detention of Vizguerra, a mother of four and NDWA member, comes amid what appears to be an increase in immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump.
Daniela Perez, media relations director for the NDWA, told TIME on Tuesday, “We’re urgently working on collaborating with partners to demand her immediate release. Lawless ICE detainments and deportations are attacks on all of our freedoms. We will not allow ICE or leaders who stoke fear and division to terrorize our loved ones and neighbors.”
According to Jordan Garcia of the American Friends Service Committee, Vizguerra was arrested at a Target store in Denver on Monday.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stated that Vizguerra’s arrest “is not about safety” and likened it to “Putin-style persecution of political dissidents.” Protesters have gathered outside a detention center in Aurora, a Denver suburb, where Vizguerra’s family says she is being held, to demand her release.
Vizguerra gained prominence in 2017 when she lived in Denver churches for three months after Colorado Senator Michael Bennet and then-Representative (now Governor) Jared Polis, both Democrats, introduced legislation to help her and another Mexican immigrant remain in the United States.
One of the first actions Trump took in his second term was to rescind a policy that protected “sensitive” locations like schools, hospitals, and churches from ICE arrests. Subsequently, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo titled “Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas,” granting ICE agents broader access to these locations.
Vizguerra was featured in TIME’s TIME100 list. America Ferrera wrote, “Jeanette moved to the U.S. to be a janitor, working as an outspoken union organizer and building her own company before becoming an advocate for immigration reform—a bold and risky thing for an undocumented immigrant. … The current Administration has scapegoated immigrants, scaring Americans into believing that undocumented people like Jeanette are criminals. She came to this country not to rape, murder or sell drugs, but to create a better life for her family. … This is not a crime. This is the American Dream.”
Vizguerra sought refuge in a church after her deportation stay was not renewed. She left the church grounds in 2020 and later obtained a U-Visa, which is sometimes granted to crime victims, according to Garcia. She had fled Mexico after her husband, a bus driver, was held up at gunpoint three times, as detailed in a 2011 documentary about their immigration experience.
Historically, immigration enforcement has focused on individuals posing threats to national security or public safety. However, Trump broadened enforcement priorities during his first and second terms, fulfilling his campaign promise to pursue “mass deportations.” Vizguerra is the mother of three U.S. citizens and one “Dreamer,” a beneficiary of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA provided work permits and protection from deportation to certain undocumented immigrants who arrived as children. Trump rescinded DACA during his first term, but President Joe Biden reinstated it. Vizguerra would have qualified for the similar Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program, which Trump also canceled during his first term. At the beginning of his second term, Trump also revoked previous guidelines, which prioritized those with “serious” criminal records, in favor of a more expansive crackdown on all unauthorized immigrants.
John Fabbricatore, a former Denver field office director for ICE, commented on Tuesday that the Biden Administration had previously prevented him from deporting Vizguerra. Fabbricatore, a vocal Trump supporter, wrote, “She should have been deported in 2009 as well. She is a criminal, hates Trump, and is an open-borders, abolish-ICE advocate. Bye!!!!”
In addition to entering the country illegally, Vizguerra was convicted in 2009 of misdemeanor possession of forged documents, which she stated were necessary for employment. In 2011, a judge suspended a deportation order but allowed her to remain in the U.S. under ICE supervision. Vizguerra’s lawyers told the AP that ICE is now attempting to deport her based on that original order, which they contend was never valid.
“The only thing that I’ve done is use false documents to put food on the table of my family,” Vizguerra said through a translator during an address to supporters and media outside a Denver church in 2017.
Vizguerra filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that ICE “carried out a yearslong campaign” to deport her without “valid justification.” According to the AP, she later dropped the lawsuit.
As of late Tuesday, neither ICE nor DHS had publicly confirmed Vizguerra’s detention or commented on recent developments in her case. Neither agency immediately responded to TIME’s requests for comment.
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