The United States for Migration and Customs (ICE) confirmed that it has been detained and planned to deport Janet Vzgura, a prominent immigration activist who drew attention to the ordeal of uncomfortable persons in the country.
Immigration defenders, legislators and human rights groups criticized this step, referring to the mother of the fourth deep ties with the Colorado community, where she lived for 30 years.
The arrest seems to be the first time that the American authorities have targeted a prominent immigration activist to deport during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Supporters say Vizguerra’s detention aims to silence the opposition. It comes amid a broader deportation batch by the Trump administration, which has retracted the protection of enforcement and summoned the eighteenth -century law in an attempt to remove unconfirmed persons from the United States.
In social media mail On Wednesday, the Ice office in Denver, Colorado, justified the arrest of Vizguerra by referring to its previous convictions.
She has a misdemeanor for the year 2009 to use a false social security number to find work, as well as a second misdemeanor from 2013 when she briefly returned to Mexico to visit her mother who dies. I was convicted of illegal entry.
“It will remain in the sins of the ice until it is removed from the United States,” Ice said in this position.
However, Aaron Reichlin-Melnik, an older colleague in the American Immigration Council, wonders whether the fierce detention record in Vizguerra calls for such treatment.
He admitted that she “has some low -level crimes as a result of its documentary.” “But it is not a dangerous radical. This is ridiculous,” he is books On the social media platform x.
Instead, she indicated that she won one of the 100 most 100 people in Time Magazine magazine in 2017.
“She is an advocate of great respect in Colorado and the country,” said Reichlin-Maelank. “The US craft president has a more dangerous criminal record.”

Who is Janet Vzgura?
Vizguerra came to the United States from Mexico in the 1990s with her husband, who faced many kidnappings in Mexico. She settled in Colorado, where she started working as drivers and participated in organizing work.
Her first brush came with law enforcement in the United States while traffic was stopped in 2009, when it was found that she had a document with a fake social security number.
Her condemnation was launched for a year against her deportation-and led her to take over more invitation to immigration, as she was seeking to protect other people who have no documents in Colorado.
It has become associated with groups such as Colorado rights for all people and the Coalition of Migrants in Colorado, and established the Colorado branch of the dreamer mothers at work.
But in 2017, President Trump took office for the first time, with pledges to implement a comprehensive immigration campaign.
For fear of imminent deportation, Vizguerra resorted to two churches in the Denver region, an act that pushed it to the national lights. Long -term government policy aims to immigrate raids in sensitive locations like churches at the time.
“I decided not to hide my battle against the deportation, but the fighting publicly to draw attention to the injustice of the regime,” Vizjuera wrote in 2017 published by the New York Times.
“I wanted to inspire my community to get out of the shadow and raise its voices.”
In May 2017, she received a temporary deportation residence that allowed her to leave the church reserve. But she felt that she had to return again in 2019 after the visa application was rejected.
She eventually moved outside the church in 2020. The administration of US President Joe Biden gave her a temporary “deportation”.
In the image of Time for the year 2017 for Vizguerra, actress American Ferrara praised the activist to make a “bold and risky” decision of the audience with her struggle.
Ferrera wrote: “The current administration has made a redemption migrant, which frightens the Americans to believe that people who have no documents like Janet are criminals,” Ferrera wrote.
“She threw blood, sweat and tears to become a business owner, and strive to give her children more opportunities than she was. This is not a crime. This is the American dream.”
Vizguerra was arrested on Monday in the parking lot as it worked.

Payment deportation
The arrest of Vizguerra comes in a mass deportation batch under Trump’s leadership, which carried out promises to stop the undocumented immigration and increase the number of removal operations.
Since he took office, Trump has quickly moved away from the Biden administration policies that resulted in the abolition of immigration procedures against low -level and non -violent criminals.
Recent ice enforcement surveying has seen the arrest of thousands of individuals who do not have a criminal record, despite Trump’s claim that he will focus on those who consider threats to public safety and national security.
In January, the Trump administration has also declined a long -term policy prohibiting the enforcement of immigration in sensitive sites, including churches, schools and medical facilities.
Earlier this month, I began calling for the 1798 foreign enemies law to increase expulsion, although the federal judge had temporarily stopped using it temporarily. This act was used only three times before, and only in war cases.
Critics also accused the Trump administration of targeting foreign citizens – including the permanent legal population – of their political views.
This includes an attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the owner of a green card that led protests in support of Palestine at the University of Colombia, as well as the expulsion of the professor of Brown Rasha Alway, who was studying in the United States in a work visa.

What was the response?
Some of the most harsh condemnation of Vizjarra’s arrest came from local elected officials.
In a large -scale video statement on Tuesday, mayor of Denver Mike Johnston said her detention “does not aim to maintain the safety of our country.”
He said: “This is Putin’s persecution of political suitables,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leader accused of human rights violations.
American Senator Michael Bennett praised Bizjorra as the “Pillar of Society”. Meanwhile, Governor Jared Police said that the Trump administration owes public transparency in its procedures.
“I met and know Janet Vzgura,” Police said in a statement. “Janet is the mother of Jeddah, and she has spent decades in our country, helps society, has a job, has no history of violence, and does not represent a threat to society, and above all, it deserves due legal procedures in accordance with the law.”
The groups that worked closely with Vizguerra, including the Quker America and alliance of local national workers, have mobilized public support for their cause. Dozens of organizations signed a letter calling for their release.
“Let’s be clear: these attacks aim to raise fear and silence, but we will protect each other,” as the local national workers alliance published X.
Supporters gathered on Tuesday outside the Aurora detention center, where Vizguerra was detained. Another protest of Denver was planned on Wednesday.
On the GoFundme Legal Funds page, I appealed to Luna Baez, the daughter of Vizguerra, to support the community.
She said: “My mother fought unabated for her society, and it is time for all of us to meet now and show all support to her as she did to us.”
What comes after that?
Vizguerra lawyers have presented the emergency resumption, saying that her detention violates her right to due legal procedures.
In a statement to the Washington Post, lawyer Laura Lierath said that the immigration authorities are based on an order to remove 2013 “that release procedural defects.”
She said: “There is no legal removal order, and ICE will know this for years. If Ice continues with an attempt to remove it without legal authority, it sends a chilling message that the agency ignores the agency’s negligence and the rule of law.”
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