Protesters gather outside ICE in Aurora after immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra reportedly taken into custody

Protesters gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora early Tuesday morning on reports that immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra was taken into custody. Vizguerra was reportedly taken into custody by federal agents on Monday morning. 

Vizguerra has been considered a voice for the immigrant community for more than two decades. Vizguerra came to the United States, without proper documentation to stay, from Mexico City in 1997.

Demonstrators outside the ICE facility told CBS News Colorado that Vizguerra was taken into custody by federal agents outside her place of employment on Monday morning. Vizguerra's family has claimed that she was taken into ICE custody. CBS News Colorado is awaiting confirmation from ICE about her detention. 

"In a way, I would say I feel very angered and sad but very prepared as well. I'm just considering how long her case has been acted for. Something we've had to plan for... for years," said Vizguerra's daughter Luna Baez. 

Vizguerra has continued to seek a path to citizenship since entering the U.S. without proper documentation more than two decades ago. She was scheduled for deportation in 2017 but took refuge in a church in Denver and was later granted a stay of deportation by the Biden administration in 2021.

Vizguerra has been outspoken about changes in immigration policy by the Trump administration including the rescinding of guidelines to allow ICE arrests in "sensitive locations" like schools and churches.

"Whatever place. I don't care if it's a hospital, I don't care if it's a school, I don't care if it's a church... I don't care if some people have 40, 50 years here," said Vizguerra, who talked to CBS News Colorado's Alan Gionet in January when the changes were announced. "Everybody is at risk."

An ICE spokesman has said Vizguerra has two misdemeanor convictions. In a 2009 traffic stop, she was found to be driving without a license. It was then discovered that she used a fake Social Security number to get documents for work.

"This is not immigration. This is Soviet-style, political persecution of political dissidents under the guise of immigration enforcement. This a mom of American citizens who works at Target. This is not something that makes our community safer," said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.  

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat representing Colorado on Capitol Hill, posted on X Tuesday morning, "Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother and pillar in her community. I am deeply concerned about ICE's actions to detain her without any due process, like a deportation order. ICE should ensure Jeanette has legal counsel and immediately release her."

ICE released this statement to CBS News Colorado, "Jeanette Vizguerra-Ramirez, 53, was arrested without incident March 17 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States.

"Vizguerra is a convicted criminal alien from Mexico who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge. She illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 24, 1997, and has received legal due process in U.S. immigration court."