DENVER — One day after her release from an ICE detention center in Aurora, immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra spoke publicly at a rally with her supporters on Tuesday as they celebrated a small win in her ongoing deportation case.
On Sunday, a federal immigration judge ruled Vizguerra could be released on a $5,000 bond after spending nine months in detention. Federal agents arrested her in March outside the Aurora Target where she worked. At the time, DHS said Vizguerra was a convicted criminal from Mexico who had a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge.
While standing in front of a crowd with her attorneys outside the Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse in downtown Denver, Vizguerra said she will not be silenced as her battle against deportation continues. Her attorneys claim she was targeted and detained by federal agents in March "for her activism, for her open speech about the process, and for her organizing."
'I have the right to critique the government'
"They targeted me and held me in detention for over nine months because of that speech," Vizguerra said through a translator at Tuesday's rally.
Vizguerra has lived in the U.S. since 1997 after escaping violence in Mexico City with her husband and daughter. Her fight against deportation began in 2009 when she was convicted of criminal possession of a forged instrument for having a fake Social Security card. In 2013, she was convicted of illegal reentry after going back to Mexico for her mother's funeral and returning to the United States.
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Her activism while fighting her own deportation garnered national attention in 2017 when she was forced to seek sanctuary at a Denver church under the first Trump administration after a hold on her deportation was not renewed. It was the same year she was named to TIME Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world, alongside President Donald 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.
"I believe that every single one of us has this right under the Constitution, that I have the right to critique the government, to speak out when I see something is wrong," Vizguerra said in Spanish during Tuesday's rally.
While her attorneys successfully challenged her detention in federal court amid her ongoing deportation case, advocates said it's still unclear what the future holds.
In a statement to Denver7 on Tuesday, an ICE spokesperson addressed Vizguerra's release:
“Jeanette Vizguerra is a convicted criminal alien from Mexico who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge. Her criminal history includes document forgery, driving without a license, and illegal re-entry. She illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 24, 1997, and has received full due process. She was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge in 2013. Under the Biden administration she was granted several stays of deportation and this administration is working to correct that error. Now, an activist judge has made her eligible to be realeased on bond. We wil continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of illegal aliens who have no right to be in this country.
Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are once again a nation of laws. We will find, arrest, and deport illegal aliens regardless of if they were a featured ‘Time Person of the Year.’ If you come to our country illegally, we will deport you, and you will never return. The safest option for illegal aliens is to self-deport, so they still have the opportunity to return and live the American dream."
Vizguerra's attorneys said they are fighting her ongoing federal deportation case, but there is no clear timeline on what could happen next.
In the video player below, watch Vizguerra's full remarks.
