A federal judge has issued an injunction attempting to block the deportation of Jeanette Vizguerra, a 53-year-old Mexican national and long-time anti-ICE activist who has evaded removal for over 15 years by taking refuge inside a Denver church.
The move comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Vizguerra earlier this week, citing a final order of removal that had already been issued by a federal immigration judge.
United States District Judge Nina Wang’s order demands that the federal government provide justification as to why Vizguerra should not be released. Her attorneys argue that she was not presented with a lawful removal order, a claim contradicted by ICE, which maintains that her case has proceeded through the appropriate legal channels.
According to ICE, Vizguerra entered the United States illegally near El Paso, Texas, on December 24, 1997. A final order of deportation was issued after she went through immigration court proceedings. “She has received legal due process,” the agency stated, adding that her prolonged resistance to removal does not invalidate the legal ruling.
ICE officials, including former Denver Field Office Director John Fabbricatore, confirmed that Vizguerra has been known to authorities for years and was at the forefront of the “abolish ICE” campaign in Colorado.
“This woman should’ve been removed in 2009,” Fabbricatore said. He pointed to her prior arrests, including a 2009 traffic stop in which she was found with a fraudulent Social Security card and another incident months later involving unlicensed and uninsured driving.
Despite her legal status, Vizguerra gained national attention in 2017 when Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Her time spent living in a church made her a symbol of resistance against immigration enforcement policies, but it also shielded her from federal arrest due to ICE’s general policy of avoiding enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as places of worship.
She is currently being held at an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado. Judge Wang’s injunction temporarily halts her deportation while the court reviews her petition. The Department of Homeland Security has not indicated whether it will comply with the injunction or challenge it in higher court.