Federal judge orders ICE not to deport Colorado immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra with court case still pending

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, The Denver Post on Mar 21, 2025

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DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado on Friday ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other Trump administration officials not to deport immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra — or even move her out of state — until her petition challenging her detention is litigated.

ICE officials detained Vizguerra on Monday. She is currently being held in the agency’s detention facility in Aurora.

U.S. District Judge Nina Wang noted in her order that an injunction “is necessary to preserve the status quo” and to allow the court time to consider legal arguments. She scheduled a hearing for March 28.

The decision follows a move Tuesday by Vizguerra’s legal team to file an emergency petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Colorado’s federal court, which is what prompted Wang’s order on Friday.

In the document, the respondents were named as Aurora ICE processing center warden Johnny Choate, ICE acting field office director Ernesto Santacruz, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

Vizguerra’s attorneys also filed a petition for review in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to challenge her detainment.

“This case raises complex issues about not only the legality of Ms. Vizguerra-Ramirez’s ICE detention under immigration law, but also the jurisdictional interplay between district and appellate courts facing this specific set of factual circumstances,” Wang wrote in her order.

She also notes that the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is superior to her court, so its judgment could sway her decision about the petition.

Wang previously had directed the respondents to inform the court by Monday why it shouldn’t grant the petition.

ICE argued in a statement that Vizguerra, who first crossed the southern border from Mexico in 1997, is “a convicted criminal alien.” The agency said a federal immigration judge issued her final order of deportation, and Vizguerra’s latest one-year stay of deportation expired in February 2024.

But her legal team at Denver law office Lichter Immigration contends that any alleged reinstated order is invalid because standard procedure wasn’t followed by ICE officers.

Supporters are taking Wang’s order as good news.

“We are relieved and cautiously optimistic in the wake of this order,” said Jennifer Piper at the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice group that has worked closely with Vizguerra’s family. “The order gives Jeanette’s lawyers and the government, if they choose to come to the table, time to resolve Jeanette’s case without imminent removal or transfer hanging over her.”

Vizguerra’s detention sparked protests locally, and elected officials like Denver Mayor Mike Johnston have spoken out against her detention. Vizguerra, 53, built a national reputation as an immigration advocate during Donald Trump’s first term after sheltering in two Denver churches to avoid deportation.

ICE directed further inquiries about Vizguerra to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Justice Department’s public affairs office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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