ICE detains illegal immigrant known for hiding in churches

United States immigration authorities detained Jeanette Vizguerra on Monday, her friends and associates told local and national media. Vizguerra, a Mexican national who has lived in Colorado for years, gained prominence during President Donald Trump’s first term for living in churches for several years to evade deportation.

Did Immigration Customs and Enforcement confirm the arrest? ICE had not publicly commented on Vizguerra’s case as of Wednesday morning. John Fabbricatore, a retired field director for the agency in Denver who previously handled Vizguerra’s case, said on social media that Vizguerra has already had numerous immigration hearings. She broke her agreement with ICE to leave the country without detainment by hiding in a church, he said.

What did Vizguerra’s lawyer say? Laura Lichter told local news that ICE was treating Vizguerra more harshly than was justified and that the case against her contained several errors that needed to be resolved. Vizguerra’s advocates have filed petitions challenging her detention in Denver’s federal court and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

How did we get here? Vizguerra entered the United States illegally in 1997. In 2009, Denver authorities pulled her over and discovered she was using a fraudulent social security number. Vizguerra claimed she did not know it belonged to someone else, the Associated Press reported. Since then, she’s been fighting a deportation order, which she contends is invalid because she self-deported and then re-entered the country. The Biden administration granted her a temporary stay of deportation in 2021.

Vizguerra has become one of Colorado’s best-known immigration activists. Denver mayor Mike Johnston said she worked a job in the retail sector and was a mother of U.S. citizens. He decried her arrest and described it as detainment of a political dissident. A crowdfunding campaign for Vizguerra had raised more than $51,000 as of Wednesday morning.