Immigrant rights activist's arrest marks big shift in enforcement
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Jeanette Vizguerra, a Mexican immigrant who sought sanctuary in a church to avoid deportation, listens to supporters gathered outside the First Unitarian Church in Denver in 2017. Photo: Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
The arrest of a longtime immigrant rights activist — who made national headlines when she took sanctuary in a Denver church during President Trump's first term — has rattled advocates and immigrants across the country.
Why it matters: Despite the Trump administration's pledge to focus on the "worst of the worst," Jeanette Vizguerra joins a growing list of nonviolent figures targeted in the immigration crackdown.
- Immigrant rights groups worry a string of arrests signals a new phase in immigration enforcement and an effort to silence critics.
Driving the news: Vizguerra was on break from her job at a Target store near Denver on Monday when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained her, according to Jordan Garcia, an advocate with the American Friends Service Committee.
- Garcia told the New York Times that agents said to Vizguerra: "We finally got you."
- In a statement to Axios Denver, an ICE spokesperson defended Vizguerra's arrest, calling her "a convicted criminal alien ... who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge."
Flashback: Vizguerra, a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. without authorization in 1997, has lived in legal limbo for decades.
- She became a national symbol of resistance in 2017 when she moved into a Denver church basement with her three youngest children to avoid deportation.
- Time magazine named her one of the world's most influential people that year.
- In 2021, the Biden administration granted her a one-year deportation stay.
The big picture: Vizguerra's case follows other high-profile detentions of nonviolent people by federal immigration agents.
By the numbers: About 50% of people in ICE custody have no prior criminal conviction or pending charges, according to agency data updated through March 7.
- Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem also said fewer than half of the department's 33,000 arrests in the first 50 days since the start of Trump's second term were of people with criminal records.
Zoom in: Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by immigration authorities this month despite being a legal permanent resident.
- Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University graduate student from India who was teaching at the D.C. institution on a student visa, was detained by immigration authorities this week and accused of "spreading Hamas propaganda." His lawyers say he's being "punished" because his U.S. citizen wife is of Palestinian heritage, per Politico.
- Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney reported being "in chains" after ICE detained her for 12 days over visa paperwork issues before allowing her return to Vancouver.
Between the lines: ICE under Trump has also increasingly targeted immigrants with legal status or without deportation orders.
- Rhode Island doctor Rasha Alawieh, who according to court documents is a citizen of Lebanon who holds an H-1B visa, was deported last week upon her arrival at a Boston airport.
- Camila Muñoz, a Peruvian woman married to a U.S. citizen who was in the process of getting permanent legal status, was detained while returning from a trip to Puerto Rico. Muñoz previously overstayed a visa.
State of play: Vizguerra's arrest has sparked protests and condemnation from Colorado's Democratic congressional delegation, Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
- Johnston characterized the arrest as "Putin-style persecution of political dissidents" targeting a working mother dedicated to helping other undocumented immigrants.
The other side: Spokespeople from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
What we're watching: Vizguerra's lawyers have filed a challenge in federal court. She remains detained at an ICE facility in the Denver suburb of Aurora.
- In Khalil's case, a New York federal judge transferred his legal battle to New Jersey, where his legal team is fighting for his release.
Go deeper: Tracking the foreign nationals detained by ICE as tourists or U.S. residents
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include details of the detention of Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri.
