AURORA, Colo. — For more than six months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained a prominent immigration rights activist in Aurora. The length of time violates her constitutional rights while subjecting her to "prolonged detention," her attorneys assert.
53-year-old Jeanette Vizguerra was detained by ICE on March 17. Her legal team believes Vizguerra was targeted for her criticism of U.S. immigration enforcement policies and practices over the years.
On Monday, Vizguerra's lawyers filed an amended version of their Writ of Habeas Corpus, which is a court filing that challenges an individual's imprisonment. The attorneys added on a new claim, arguing that Vizguerra has been detained for too long and should be released to continue her fight against deportation from outside the Aurora facility.
The filing describes Vizguerra's case as being stuck in "legal limbo."
"According to the government, she already was deported. That's what we're fighting about," lead attorney on Vizguerra's case Laura Lichter said. "Someone could be fighting for a couple of years before these cases are actually resolved... Essentially, by providing this motion today, which essentially amended the original petition, it basically said, this has gone on long enough. This has gone on past a reasonable amount of time to have somebody facing detention while they are actively fighting their legal right to contest the government's action."
Since Vizguerra was first detained, a crowd rallies in her name outside of the Aurora ICE Processing Center on Monday evenings. This week, the crowd was there awaiting announcement of the attorney's new filing.
"We are here because in 2013, ICE messed up," Lichter told the crowd on Monday. "They didn't have a removal order. The facts are clear. They didn't even do the paperwork correctly, and so they sat on it for about a dozen years, until this administration, we believe, went after Jeanette, targeted her for who she is, for what she represents, for what she says."
Vizguerra addressed the crowd gathered on Monday evening, speaking through a phone call and translator. She told the group that for the first time in her six months of detainment, she felt her health was deteriorating.
"I want to make sure that the six months I've spent in here are not gone to waste," the translator said, speaking on behalf of Vizguerra.
Denver7 reached out to ICE for a comment on the new filing in Viguerra's case, but did not receive a response.
"She's now been detained longer than six months. At this point, the burden shifts to the government to establish that her continued detention is actually necessary. They're not going to have much of a basis to do that," Lichter said. "Why? Because Jeanette is not dangerous. She's not going to run away. She's not any threat to anyone. She wants to be right here, doing exactly what she's doing, fighting her case, fighting for her legal rights, but in the warm embrace of her family, with her community, outside of a private prison."
Lichter, who began working with Vizguerra long before she was detained in March, said complicated immigration cases can last for years before reaching a resolution.
"Immigration law, because of its complexity, because of the politics, because of the different interpretations — whether that's an administration through an executive order or different courts — is something that's constantly changing," Lichter said. "So, you will have cases that can go on for years and years and years, especially if that person has the resilience to be able to continue to fight for their rights."
Vizguerra is a citizen of Mexico who entered the U.S. in 1997. The filing from her attorneys states that "at the age of 25, she fled to the U.S. with her husband and daughter due to the persecution her husband experienced at his job from criminal organizations."
In February of 2009, Vizguerra was convicted of criminal possession of a forged instrument for having a fake Social Security card. At the time, Vizguerra said her Social Security card was made up of digits from her birth date, and did not belong to another person. She ended up serving a 23-day sentence after her conviction.
That year, Vizguerra was placed in removal proceedings. She applied for a form of relief that would have authorized a judge to cancel the deportation and grant permanent residency if certain requirements were met. That application was denied in 2011, but an alternate request for voluntary departure was granted, giving Vizguerra 60 days to leave the country.
Vizguerra's attorneys claim she appealed that decision. In 2012, learned her mother was struggling and flew back to Mexico to see her mom one last time. That departure "triggered a subsequent, automatic withdrawal of her appeal," according to Vizguerra's legal team.
Vizguerra returned to the U.S. in 2013, when the amended court filing states she was "apprehended shortly after her entry and charged criminally for illegal entry." She was convicted in that case and sentenced to probation.
When Vizguerra was released from criminal custody, she was turned over to ICE in El Paso, Texas. She was able to return to Colorado, and required to report to the Denver ICE Field Office in Centennial, court documents state.
"The government believes that Jeanette is subject to reinstatement, that she was essentially deported and then illegally came back in the country," Lichter said. "What we've said is, no, it wasn't a deportation. She left on an order of voluntary departure because her mother was dying."
It was while Vizguerra was in Texas that a removal order was reinstated — a point in the timeline that's debated by her attorney.
"They made a mistake back in 2013. over a dozen years ago. They didn't have the right facts to establish their assertion that Jeanette is actually someone who should be detained, facing the immediate threat of removal," Lichter said. "Even if they were right, they didn't even fill out their paperwork according to their own rules and procedures. Nothing has changed about that."
The filing continues to detail Vizguerra's timeline, claiming she was granted a stay of removal by August of 2013.
"Since that time, ICE repeatedly granted extensions of that stay of removal, with her most recent stay expiring in 2024," the filing reads.
Read our previous coverage below
- Immigrant rights activist taken into ICE custody in Aurora 'without warning,' advocacy groups say
- 'I need my mom back': Supporters of immigrant rights activist reportedly detained by ICE rally in her defense
- Former Denver ICE director on agency’s history with Jeanette Vizguerra: ‘She's had more than due process'
- Supporters rally at Auraria Campus to demand release of immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra
- Federal judge orders ICE not to deport Jeanette Vizguerra with court case still pending
- Jeanette Vizguerra was 'targeted,' detained by ICE for her activism, attorneys claim
Vizguerra was forced to seek sanctuary at a Denver church in 2017 under the first Trump administration after a hold on her deportation was not renewed. Denver7 spoke with her more than two months into her stay at First Unitarian Church in 2017 — the same year she was named to TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world alongside President Trump.
She was given a two-year reprieve, which allowed her to stay in the country until March of 2019 after Sen. Michael Bennet and then-Rep. Jared Polis — now Colorado’s governor — introduced so-called private bills to give her a path to become a permanent resident. But her two-year stay was not renewed and Vizguerra was further denied a U Visa — which allows undocumented victims of certain crimes to live legally in the U.S.
A timeline provided by ICE showed Vizguerra was twice granted a stay of deportation in both 2021 and 2023, lasting for a year each.
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When Vizguerra was most recently detained, a spokesperson with ICE told Denver7 Vizguerra would "remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States." The statement continued, calling Vizguerra "a convicted criminal" with "a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge."
ICE asserted Vizguerra has received legal due process in immigration court throughout the process.
Court records show that Vizguerra's team has previously asked the judge to consider releasing her on bond. A decision on bond has not been made yet.
"If the judge agrees with us, she could order Jeanette to be released, or she could order that Jeanette have a bond hearing. We would hope where the burden is going to be on the government, for them to prove that they have a right or a need to keep her detained," Lichter said.
The federal government will respond to their filing within the next three weeks, according to Lichter. Then, Vizguerra's team will have two weeks to file any counterarguments they may have.
After that, Lichter said both sides will be awaiting the judge's ruling in the case.
