Who is Jeanette Vizguerra, immigrant rights activist fighting deportation in Denver?

CBS News

20-05-2025

Jeanette Vizguerra, an immigrants' rights activist and herself an immigrant fighting deportation from Denver, has yet to face a federal court hearing to determine if her detention by immigration officials was lawful and if her deportation will go forward.
Currently being held at the Aurora ICE Processing Center -- operated by the private prison company GEO Group -- Vizguerra came to Colorado from Mexico in 1997, working as a janitor before becoming a vocal advocate for the rights of immigrants in the United States.
Current and former immigration officials say Vizguerra came to the U.S. illegally and has evaded deportation before. She and her supporters believe immigration officials are targeting Vizguerra for "political theater" and retribution for her activism and speech while ignoring dangerous criminals, who should instead be their focus.
Who is Jeanette Vizguerra?
A 53-year-old mother of four and grandmother, Vizguerra -- whose full name is Jeanette Baez Vizguerra-Ramirez -- fled violence in her former home of Mexico City. She came to Colorado in 1997 and worked as a janitor and union organizer in Denver. She entered the United States illegally but had applied for a visa in the hopes of getting a legal path to citizenship.
A 2017 attempt to have her deported stemmed from a 2009 arrest for possessing a Social Security card so that she could work. She pleaded guilty to that charge in 2009, and in 2011, a federal immigration judge issued a final order of deportation, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokesman said at the time.
"The only thing that I've done is use false documents to put food on the table of my family," she said at the time through a translator.
A 2011 Getty Images file photo shows undocumented Mexican immigrants Jeanette Vizguerra and her husband Salvador holding their 3-month-old daughter Zury in their family apartment on May 30, 2011 in Aurora, Colorado.
John Moore / Getty Images
For months throughout 2017, she took refuge in a Denver church, as places like churches and schools were long considered "sensitive locations," off limits to immigration officers. President Trump revoked that policy this year, just hours after his inauguration.
Rev. Mike Morran of the First Unitarian Society of Denver said at the time that Vizguerra was welcome to stay at his church as long as necessary.
"Away from her three children that need her, deporting her to a country she hasn't been in in 20 years. That punishment is obscene for the crime that was committed," Morran said.
That 2017 deportation effort was blocked by a judge, delaying it until 2019, after countless community members, organizations, and members of Colorado's Congressional delegation, including Sen. Michael Bennet, Rep. Diana DeGette, and former Rep. Jared Polis, who's now governor, came to her defense.
Former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock also urged federal leaders in 2017 to press immigration officials to process Vizguerra's visa application faster to avoid having her torn from her family.
"It's a special day for me because I will be able to celebrate Mother's Day with my children and my grandchildren," Vizguerra said through a translator in a news conference at the time. "It's been three months -- very difficult months -- because even though I've been continuing my struggle from inside, I really miss my children."
In 2017, the media attention her case was getting led to Time Magazine listing her as one of the 100 most influential people of the year.
Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented mother of four, poses in the First Unitarian Society Church of Denver in Denver, Colorado, on Feb. 16, 2017.
Chris Schneider/AFP via Getty Images
In 2021, having been living in the church for about three years, she was told by the Department of Homeland Security that she would not be deported. Still, she worked for citizenship and a more permanent solution to the looming risk of deportation and family separation.
This year, the Trump administration has doubled down on its immigration enforcement policies. The total number of deportations this year is not yet clear, but DHS said on March 13 that it had arrested 32,809 people in immigration-related actions, while some media outlets have reported over 100,000 people have been deported by the Trump administration so far in 2025.
The agency has not responded to emailed questions from CBS News Colorado and ICE responded to a public records request with pre-2025 data. An appeal to that request is currently pending.
Nonetheless, Trump administration officials have repeatedly said it was prioritizing the most violent and dangerous criminals in its search for undocumented immigrants, but included in the people who have been arrested, detained, deported, had visas revoked, or other action taken against them by DHS or ICE include legal residents, student activists, and asylum seekers.
Vizguerra was arrested by ICE agents on March 17, sparking outrage and protests from her supporters across the Denver metro area.
In May, Vizguerra was named one of the 2025 recipients of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Awards.
What are critics saying?
ICE confirmed last month that Vizguerra was arrested and said she's been granted due process in her proceedings.
"Jeanette Vizguerra-Ramirez, 53, was arrested without incident March 17 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States," an ICE spokesman told CBS News Colorado last month. "Vizguerra is a convicted criminal alien from Mexico who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge. She illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 24, 1997, and has received legal due process in U.S. immigration court."
That spokesman went on to provide a timeline of the agency's history with Vizguerra: She was taken into ICE custody in 2009 but released on bond. After a federal immigration judge ordered her to leave the U.S. in 2011, she failed to do so and later self-deported to Mexico in 2012, according to ICE. The following year, she was arrested while allegedly re-entering the country and convicted of a misdemeanor.
Over the next decade, Vizguerra was granted several temporary stays of deportation, though several of her immigration petitions -- including for a visa and advance parole -- were denied.
Former ICE Field Office Director John Fabbricatore testifies before a House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement hearing on restoring immigration enforcement in America, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
Last month, CBS Colorado sat down with John Fabbricatore -- former director of ICE's Denver field office and candidate for Congress for Colorado's 6th Congressional District in 2024 -- to discuss Vizguerra's case. She should not be allowed to stay in the U.S. or even apply for citizenship, in Fabbricatore's view.
"If you enter illegally, there's no pathway to citizenship," he said.
Fabbricatore says he met with Vizguerra and that she agreed to leave voluntarily before but then decided to stay in Denver.
"She shook my hand on that deal, but instead of showing up at (Denver International Airport), she hid in a church again," he said.
What are supporters saying?
Vizguerra's efforts to stay in the United States have been supported by high-profile state and local officials, the church that gave her sanctuary, and countless others in the Denver area and beyond.
In addition to Denver's former mayor Hancock, current mayor Mike Johnston called Vizguerra's arrest last month "a plain abuse of power."
"This is not immigration enforcement intended to keep our country safe," Johnston said. "Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother of U.S. citizens. She works at Target. She's the founder of a local nonprofit."
Echoing the voices of many other critics of Mr. Trump's immigration policy and deportation practices, Johnston said the administration's arrest of Vizguerra flies in the face of its stated goal of prioritizing violent criminals.
"This is the great lie of the Trump Administration. This is not about safety. This is about political theater and political retribution," he continued. "This doesn't make this country safer. It makes this country lawless, which is the most unsafe thing any president can do."
Bennet, one of Colorado's two Democratic senators who recently announced a run for governor, also called for Vizguerra's release.
"Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother and pillar in her community. I am deeply concerned about ICE's actions to detain her without any due process, like a deportation order," he tweeted last month. "ICE should ensure Jeanette has legal counsel and immediately release her."
The day after Vizguerra was arrested, a number of protesters gathered outside the Aurora ICE Processing Center, holding signs that read "FREE JEANETTE."
A small group protested after activist Jeanette Vizguerra was reportedly detained by ICE and taken to the GEO Aurora ICE Processing Center in Aurora on March 18, 2025.
RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
"In a way, I would say I feel very angered and sad but very prepared as well," Vizguerra's daughter Luna Baez told CBS Colorado. "I'm just considering how long her case has been active for. (It's) something we've had to plan for... for years."
Last week, Vizguerra's legal team filed an amended legal claim challenging ICE's detention of her and alleging due process violations.
"This isn't just a technical problem -- it's a constitutional one," her lead attorney Laura Lichter said when she filed that claim. "Jeanette was arrested without legal basis, the government repeatedly violated its own rules, and leadership openly celebrated her detention as political retribution. That's not law enforcement. That's retaliation."
Jeanette Vizguerra, immigrant rights activist, poses for a portrait at First Unitarian Society of Denver in Denver, Colorado on Jan. 26, 2021.
Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Despite the claims of ICE and other Trump administration officials, Vizguerra's attorney and other supporters in the community maintain she's being targeted for her speech, not her immigration status.
"Targeting someone for their voice and views is the kind of conduct we expect from authoritarian regimes -- not a constitutional democracy," Lichter said.
"For years, Jeanette has fought for the rights of others," said Lichter. "Now we're fighting to defend hers."