DENVER (AP) — Supporters of a prominent Colorado immigration and labor activist say an immigration judge has ruled that she can post bond and be released after spending nine months in detention. The ruling, issued Sunday, allows Jeanette Vizguerra to arrange a $5,000 bond, as confirmed by Jennifer Piper from the American Friends Service Committee, who has been advocating for Vizguerra’s case.
Vizguerra’s family and a nonprofit group dedicated to aiding individuals in immigration detention were in the process of securing the bond as of Monday. However, the processing of this bond could take a day or longer.
Despite multiple attempts, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security have yet to respond to requests for comments on the ruling.
Jeanette Vizguerra rose to prominence during the Trump administration when she sought sanctuary in Colorado churches to escape deportation. She was arrested earlier this year on March 17 in the parking lot of a Denver-area Target store, where she had been employed.
Originally hailing from Mexico City, Vizguerra arrived in Colorado in 1997. She has been fighting deportation since 2009, when she was stopped by police and discovered to possess a fraudulent Social Security card that held her name and birth date but had someone else’s actual number, as revealed in a 2019 lawsuit against ICE. According to the lawsuit, Vizguerra was unaware that the number belonged to another individual.
Her legal team has denounced ICE’s attempts to deport her based on an invalid order and successfully called into question her detention in federal court. Recently, a federal judge ordered a bond hearing to ascertain whether Vizguerra should remain in detention while her immigration case continues.
Vizguerra’s family and a nonprofit group dedicated to aiding individuals in immigration detention were in the process of securing the bond as of Monday. However, the processing of this bond could take a day or longer.
Despite multiple attempts, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security have yet to respond to requests for comments on the ruling.
Jeanette Vizguerra rose to prominence during the Trump administration when she sought sanctuary in Colorado churches to escape deportation. She was arrested earlier this year on March 17 in the parking lot of a Denver-area Target store, where she had been employed.
Originally hailing from Mexico City, Vizguerra arrived in Colorado in 1997. She has been fighting deportation since 2009, when she was stopped by police and discovered to possess a fraudulent Social Security card that held her name and birth date but had someone else’s actual number, as revealed in a 2019 lawsuit against ICE. According to the lawsuit, Vizguerra was unaware that the number belonged to another individual.
Her legal team has denounced ICE’s attempts to deport her based on an invalid order and successfully called into question her detention in federal court. Recently, a federal judge ordered a bond hearing to ascertain whether Vizguerra should remain in detention while her immigration case continues.
