Federal judge orders ICE not to remove immigrant activist Jeanette Vizguerra, who was detained this week
The judge said Vizguerra, whose attorneys had asked for an injunction, deserves a hearing in federal court before federal immigration authorities deport her to Mexico
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A federal judge in Denver ruled Friday that immigration officials cannot deport Jeanette Vizguerra, a well-known immigrant rights activist who was detained earlier this week, without a court hearing.
U.S. District Judge Nina Y. Wang sided with Vizguerra, who once took refuge in a Denver church for three years to avoid deportation, and said that the defendants — the warden of the ICE detention center in Aurora, ICE Denver field office interim director Ernesto Santacruz, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi — could not deport her as planned.
Vizguerra was picked up during her work break at Target on Monday, chained around her waist and taken to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Aurora. ICE officials said this week that they planned to deport her.
In the federal court filing, Vizguerra’s attorneys argued that she had not been placed in removal proceedings and that reissuing her prior removal order from years ago was not sufficient under the law to justify her detention.
After nearly 30 years in the United States, Vizguerra, 53, was still involved in a years-long legal battle to stay in the country. Her visa application had been denied and she was appealing. The court filing was a writ of habeas corpus, a request that authorities bring her to court for a hearing, and argued there was no legal grounds to detain her while her immigration case is ongoing.
A hearing in her case has been set for March 28 in federal court.
