The United States Immigration and Customs Execlement (ICE) have confirmed detained and is planning to deport Jeanette Vizguerra, a prominent immigration activist who has attracted attention to the situation of people without documentation in the country.
Proponents of immigration, legislators and human rights groups have decreed the movement, pointing to the mother of deep links with the Colorado community where she has lived for 30 years.
The arrest seems to be the first time that North –
Supporters say that the arrest of Vizguerra aims to silence dissent. It occurs in the midst of a broader deportation push of Trump administration, which has receded protections of the application and has invoked an 18th -century law to try to expel people without documentation from the United States.
On social networks position On Wednesday, Ice’s Bureau in Denver, Colorado, justified the arrest of Vizuber, pointing to his past sentences.
He has a crime of 2009 to use a forged social security number to find a job, as well as a second lack of 2013 when he returned briefly to Mexico to visit his dying mother. Was convicted at the time of illegal entry.
« He will remain in ice custody until his withdrawal from the United States, » ICE said in office.
However, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior member of the America’s Immigration Council, questions if the Vizure-arrest scarcity requires this treatment.
He acknowledged that « he has a few low -level crimes as a result of not documented. » « But it’s not a dangerous radical. This is ridiculous, » he write On the social network platform X.
Instead, he said he was named the 100 most influential people in Time Magazine in 2017.
« She is a well-respected defender in Colorado and the whole country, » said Reichlin-Melnick. « The U.S. literal president has a more serious criminal record. »
Who is Jeanette Vizguerra?
Vizure initially arrived in the United States of Mexico City in the 1990’s with her husband, who had faced several abductions in Mexico. He settled in Colorado, where he started working as a counselor and became involved in organizing the work.
His first brush with North -American -American Agents occurred during a traffic stop in 2009, when he found that he was carrying a document with the false Social Security number.
His sentence began a battle for a few years against his deportation and promoted him to assume more immigration defense work, as he struggled to protect other undocumented people from Colorado.
It was associated with groups such as Colorado rights for all people and the Colorado immigrant rights coalition, and founded the Colorado branch of the Dreamer mothers organization in action.
But in 2017, President Trump took office for the first time, with commitments to implement a wide range of immigration.
Templing the imminent deportation, Vizuber sought refuge in two churches in the Denver area, an act that catapulted it in the National Mira Point. A long -term government policy banned immigration raids in sensitive places like churches at that time.
« I decided not to hide my battle against deportation, but to publicly struggle to attract attention to the injustice of the system, » Vizure wrote in a 2017 OP-ED published by the New York Times.
« I wanted to inspire my community to get out of the shadows and lift his voice. »
In May 2017, he received a temporary deportation stay that allowed him to leave the church sanctuary. But she was forced to return again in 2019 after the visa application was denied.
He finally moved to the Church in 2020. The administration of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, later granted him a temporary « deportation stay ».
In Time Magazine, the Vizure Profile of Time Magazine 2017, the Actress America Ferrera praised the activist for making the « daring and risky » decision to make public with her struggle.
« The current administration has escaped immigrants, frightened by the North -Americans to believe that people without documentation like Jeanette are criminal, » wrote Ferero.
« Blood, sweat and tears spilled to become a business owner, efforting to give their children more opportunities than. It is not a crime. This is the American dream. »
Vizure was arrested on Monday in the car park where he worked.
Deporting push
The arrest of Vizure is in the midst of a mass deportation drive under Trump, which campaigned for promises to stop migration without documentation and increase the number of removals.
Since taking office, Trump has rapidly moved away from Biden’s administration policies, which were unsupported by immigration actions against low and non -violent offenders.
Recent noise of ice application have seen the arrests of thousands of people without criminal record, despite the statement of Trump, which will focus on those threats considered for public security and national security.
In January, the Trump administration also retreated a long -term policy that banned the application of immigration in sensitive places, including churches, schools and medical facilities.
Earlier this month, he began to invoke the law enemies alien of 1798 to increase the expulsions, although a federal judge temporarily stopped his use. This act has only been used three times before and only in cases of war.
Critics have also accused the Trump administration of addressing foreign nationals, including legal permanent residents, due to their political opinions.
It includes the attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Green Card holder who directed pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, as well as the expulsion of Brown University Professor Rasha Alawieh, who taught the United States with a work visa.
What has been the answer?
Some of the most striking convictions of Vizure’s arrest have come from local elected officials.
In a video statement widely shared on Tuesday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said his arrest was not « aimed at keeping our country safe ».
« This is the persecution of Putin -style political dissidents, » he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leader accused of human rights abuse.
The North Senator -American Michael Bennet praised Vizube as « Community Pillar ». Governor Jared Polis, meanwhile, said that the Trump administration owed public transparency in its procedures.
« I have met and know Jeanette Vizguerra, » Polis said in a statement. « Jeanette is a mother and grandmother, has spent decades in our country, helping the community, has work, has no history of violence, it is not a threat to the community and, above all, it deserves a process due to the law. »
Groups that have worked closely with Vizure, including the Quker Friends Service Committee and the domestic National Workers Alliance, have also granted public support for their case. Dozens of organizations signed a letter calling for their launch.
« Let’s be clear: these attacks are intended to cause fear and silence, but we will protect ourselves to each other, » the National Alliance of National Workers in X.
Supporters gathered on Tuesday outside the Aurora detention Center where Vizguerra was held. Another protest was scheduled for Denver Wednesday.
On a Goofundme page to raise legal funds, Vizure’s daughter, Luna Baez, called for community support.
« My mother has struggled in her community and it is time for us all to gather and show all the support for her as she has done it, » she said.
What comes next?
The Vizure lawyers have filed an emergency appeal, saying that their arrest violates their right to the process due.
In a statement to The Washington Post, lawyer Laura Lichter said that immigration authorities trusted in a 2013 elimination order « RIFE with procedural defects ».
« There is no legal order of elimination and the ICE would have known for years. If the ice continues to try to eliminate it without legal authority, it sends a creepy message about the disregard of the agency for the due process and the rule of law, » he said.
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