Supporters gather for Colorado immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra outside ICE detention center
On an evening that included cold rain and punishing winds, supporters of detained immigrant advocate Jeanette Vizguerra protested outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora.
"I'd like her to come home, I don't like coming home and expecting her to be there you just have to remember that she's not there," said Luna Baez, one of Jeanette Vizguerra's four children, three of whom were born in the United States.
Baez was surrounded by dozens of supporters as they called for the release of the immigrant advocate. ICE agents arrested Vizguerra Monday as she took a break from her job at the Target store near Hampden in Littleton.
Jeanette Vizguerra has been seeking citizenship for years, after entering the country illegally from Mexico in the 1990s. In 2009, she ran into trouble with the law after a traffic stop, where she was cited for driving without a license, insurance, or registration. It led to a guilty plea for Vizguerra's attempt to utilize a Social Security number belonging to another person for work.
In the years since, Vizguerra has had several stays during her attempts to seek citizenship, but also times when she sought refuge at churches with her children to avoid deportation. On one of those occasions, she and three of her children stayed for a time at the First Baptist Church in Denver.
"There was always a level of fear, but this feels different. It feels obviously very political and she was living her life and absolutely not a danger to anyone," said The Reverend Dr. Amanda Henderson, who had an office in the church at a time when she served as executive director of Interfaith Colorado.
Vizguerra was able to make a phone call, which was shared with the crowd outside the detention center Tuesday evening.
"I truly appreciate all the time you've been by my side during the 16 years I've been fighting. I have hope that I will get out of here. I will continue my fight and that of others because there are many injustices here inside," said Vizguerra in her native Spanish.
Attorneys for Vizguerra have filed a Writ of Habeas Corpus, which means they are pushing ICE to bring Vizguerra before a court to determine the legality of her detention.
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."
