ICE touts nearly 33,000 migrant arrests in less than 2 months of new Trump term
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, released recent migrant arrest numbers of those illegally in the U.S.
Straight Arrow News
DENVER ‒ ICE agents appear to have detained a Denver-area grandmother who gained prominence during the first Trump administration for taking sanctuary in churches with her children to avoid deportation to Mexico.
Supporters said Jeanette Vizguerra, a longtime activist for immigrant rights, was detained Monday and is being held at a suburban Denver ICE facility. Her presence there could not be independently confirmed by USA TODAY; the ICE detainee locator typically takes 48 hours to be updated.
“ICE detained Jeanette without warning and appears to be ready to deport her even though the agency knows they don’t have a valid deportation order,” the immigrant-advocacy group American Friends Service Community posted to Facebook. “Her attorneys have raised the serious legal errors and lack of due process rights. They are hopeful ICE will change course.”
Vizguerra’s family and supporters began a protest vigil outside the facility early Tuesday morning.
Vizguerra’s three children are American citizens, and her supporters used her case to sway public opinion against the first Trump administration’s efforts to deport non-violent immigration offenders. Vizguerra first came to authorities’ attention in 2009 when she was stopped for driving without a valid license.
She later became an outspoken critic of the new Trump administration’s plans to increase immigration enforcement in and around churches, schools and health care facilities.
(This is a developing story and will be updated.)