Why ICE Just Detained a Famous Local Immigration Activist

Mar 19, 2025

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While on lunch break from her job at Target, ICE officers detained local immigration rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra on Monday afternoon, immediately drawing the country’s attention to Denver. Back during the first Trump administration in 2017, Vizguerra first captured national attention when she took sanctuary in Denver churches to avoid deportation. She was even named to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World of 2017. Activist and former state representative Tim Hernández returns to talk with host Bree Davies about Vizguerra’s precarious situation, what local politicians are saying about this case, and what it all means for bigger immigration fights to come.

Tim mentioned Gov. Polis’s State of the State, the arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, and his own work on a law he helped pass to allow state identification to be issued to undocumented Coloradans. He also talked about a Rally in support of Vizguerra happening today on Auraria Campus as well as a GoFundMe to help her family with legal assistance.

Here’s the rest of the 9News clip we shared during the show. Denver7’s Brandon Richard shared Gov. Polis’s full statement on Vizguerra’s detention on X.

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