On March 17th, immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Her arrest made national headlines. On Monday night, a group of local community leaders and supporters gathered outside the GEO Aurora Processing Center in northwest Aurora to show their support for her and others inside the facility

“Many don’t get the same attention. Thank you to everyone who serves as a bridge as to how we’re supposed to fight,” Vizguerra told a crowd via a phone call with her daughter Luna Baez outside the center. Vizguerra wants more people to show up and if “the worst thing happens, deportation, she said she wants people to continue to fight. I see you, I love you.”

Vizguerra is well known in the Colorado immigrant community for taking sanctuary in Denver area churches to avoid deportation during the first Trump administration.

Jordan Garcia, of the American Friends Service Committee, told the Associated Press earlier that the mother of four was arrested at a Denver-area Target store where she worked.

He said Vizguerra has been trying to gain a visa to allow her to remain in the United States since she left the sanctuary of churches in 2020. A hearing is scheduled for Friday.

While she awaits her fate, Visguerra has asked for a weekly presence outside the ICE facility. Dozens of people responded to that request on Monday, holding signs and singing songs, led by the group NOENEMIES.

“We’re here for her as she is for so many people,” singer Jamie Laurie told the crowd. Laurie was at a protest with Vizguerra just a day before her arrest.

Joanne Belknap, a Denver native, was at the rally with the recently formed Immigrant Protection Team (IPT) in Denver. She said her group was there to protest and also offer support.

“I feel like it’s my responsibility to come out and do this. There are all sorts of things I’m upset about with this administration, but this is my focus because there’s only so much I can do,” Belknap said.

Not far from the ICE site is Casa de Paz, which serves as a welcome center for people who are released from immigration detention and need a safe temporary space. Andrea Loya, executive director of Casa de Paz, asked the crowd for support and to volunteer to visit people inside the ICE facility.

Garcia asked for a meeting between the government and Vizguerra’s lawyers to help resolve her situation.  A Go Fund Me, set up to help with the family’s legal bills, has already raised $65,000, and a petition has been launched.

T-shirts and buttons were being sold on site to help with the family fund, and there was a call for people to show up every Monday at the center from 6–8pm.

Colorado leaders have responded to Vizguerra’s detention in the past week. Mayor Mike Johnston released a statement calling for her release:

“Let’s be clear what happened today. This is not immigration enforcement intended to keep our country safe. This is Putin-style persecution of political dissidents. Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother of U.S. citizens. She works at Target. She’s the founder of a local non-profit.

This is the great lie of the Trump Administration. This is not about safety. This is about political theater and political retribution. This doesn’t make this country safer. It makes this country lawless, which is the most unsafe thing any president can do.

Arresting Jeanette is a plain abuse of power to go after someone for their political views without the due process that is a cornerstone of our American values. Now is the time to stand up and demand that ICE and the Trump Administration release Jeanette and give her the due process and legal rights she deserves.”

For more background Vizguerra’s story:

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-sanctuary-jeanette-vizguerra-denver-detained-

https://denverite.com/2025/03/18/who-is-jeanette-vizguerra-ice-detained