DENVER — A federal judge in Denver is preparing to hear arguments regarding the release of an immigration and labor activist who sought refuge in local churches to evade deportation during the first Trump administration.
Jeanette Vizguerra was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 17 and is currently detained at an immigration facility in suburban Denver.
According to ICE, Vizguerra unlawfully entered the U.S. from Mexico in 1997 and is being held pending deportation proceedings. Following her arrest, ICE stated that the mother of four has a final deportation order, asserting that she “has received legal due process in U.S. immigration court.”
In response, her legal team claims the deportation order is invalid and has filed a motion seeking to compel U.S. District Judge Nina Wang to mandate her release by federal authorities.
Judge Wang has temporarily suspended Vizguerra’s deportation during the legal proceedings surrounding her case.
ICE’s attempts to deport Vizguerra began in 2009, during the Obama administration, following an incident in which she was stopped in suburban Denver and found with a fraudulent Social Security card. A lawsuit she filed against ICE in 2019 states Vizguerra was unaware that the number did not belong to her.
While a removal order was issued, she was also granted the option to leave voluntarily, which she exercised to visit her mother before her passing in 2012, according to her current legal petition.
Her legal team argues that since she left the U.S. voluntarily prior to re-entering, there is no existing removal order for ICE to enforce.
The timeline for Judge Wang’s ruling remains uncertain, but she has indicated that the case presents “complex issues” regarding immigration law, and she has not identified a comparable case.
