March 18 (UPI) — Immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra is being held at the Aurora, Colo., Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility following her arrest by ICE agents.
ICE agents arrested Vizguerra on Monday afternoon in the parking lot of a Target store, where she is employed in Aurora, and her family told local media they will remain outside the Aurora ICE detention facility for “as long as it takes.”
Vizguerra gained notoriety in 2009 after she was stopped for a traffic violation and was convicted for illegally entering the United States and providing falsified documents related to the traffic stop.
She was subject to deportation to Mexico, but appealed, resulting in a federal judge stopping her deportation.
Vizguerra remained in the United States with the help of several stay orders, but in 2017 moved into the basement of the First Unitarian Church in Denver and remained there for three years to prevent being arrested by federal agents.
She eventually used her experience to become a pro-immigration activist in the Denver area and founded the Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition.
The coalition is a network of churches that harbor migrants who illegally entered the United States
Vizguerra early Monday afternoon in a Facebook post shared a story by the Denver Post titled, “Denver ICE field office seeks to expand detention space by nearly 1,000 more beds.”
She also shared information written in Spanish, but translated to “The Fifth Circuit issued the DACA injunction: Here’s what you need to know.”
Vizguerra has lived in the United States for 30 years and has four children. Some Colorado lawmakers want her released from custody, The Independent reported.
“There are serious concerns about ICE’s actions to detain Jeanett Vizguerra,” U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., wrote in a social media post. “Targeting a mother who has been an active part of our Colorado community for nearly three decades will not fix our broken immigration system or secure our border.”
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., called Vizguerra a “mother a pillar in her community.:
Bennet said he is “deeply concerned” about her arrest by ICE agents without any due process and called on ICE to immediately release her and provide her with legal representation.
The pro-immigration American Friends Services Committee said ICE “acted without a valid deportation order and without notifying Ms. Vizguerra or her lawyers” when they took her into custody.
AFSC officials said ICE appears to be readying her to deport her without a deportation order in place, KDVR reported.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston called her arrest a “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin-style persecution of political dissidents.”
“This is the great lie of the Trump administration,” Johnston said. “This is not about safety. This is about political theater and political retribution.”
He said her arrest and potential deportation does not make the United States safer, but instead makes it “lawless” and called the matter an “abuse of power.”
Vizguerra’s immigration status is unknown, but supporters say she is a lawful resident of the United States.
She entered the United States from Mexico in 1997 with her husband and oldest daughter and gave birth to three more children while in the United States.
ICE officials did not respond to an email request for comment on Tuesday afternoon.