Denver, CO – Community organizations and elected officials across Colorado are calling for the immediate release of Jeanette Vizguerra, a beloved mother, grandmother, and longtime community leader, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unjustly and forcibly took her into custody without warning at her workplace Monday, March 17, 2025 and immediately transferred her to the GEO immigration detention center. Advocates believed she had been moved after observing men and women being loaded onto vans and driven to the airport. At 9:46am her family received a call from her saying she is inside GEO. Her lawyer was able to confirm at 10:15am.
Jeanette Vizguerra has fought her own deportation since 2009 while advocating for immigrant rights, labor protections, and family unity. She is a mother of four—including a permanent resident and three U.S. citizen children—and has lived in Colorado for nearly 30 years. Jeanette is a pillar of the community and has supported countless families. ICE had no reason to detain her—this cruel and unnecessary action is causing irreparable harm to her family and community. It is clear she is being targeted for her community organizing and critiques of the deportation system as well as her outspoken defense of human rights.
Despite knowing they do not have a valid deportation order, ICE acted without notifying Ms. Vizguerra or her attorneys and placed her in the GEO Group for-profit detention center in Aurora. ICE’s actions raise serious due process concerns, and her attorneys are working to correct the legal errors behind her detention.
We, the undersigned organizations and elected officials, call on ICE to right this wrong and release Jeanette Immediately, stop her deportation. Jeanette belongs with her family.
An Urgent Call to Action
Jeanette was able to briefly call her daughter on March 17 before facility officials cut off phone access for unknown reasons. Concerned for her safety, her family and community members held an all-night vigil outside the GEO detention center from Monday to Tuesday, gathering in song, drumming, chanting, candle lighting, and contacting congressional offices to demand her release.
ICE’s detention of Jeanette also mirrors other disturbing recent detentions of immigrants who have spoken out for justice, including Mr. Mahmoud Khalil and Ms. Leqaa Kordia, who have been unlawfully detained over the past week.
Sign and share the petition to free Jeanette: https://secure.afsc.org/a/freejeanette
Donate to the family’s GoFundMe to cover legal costs: https://gofund.me/5cb78117
The family hopes this is an administrative error by ICE. However, if not, this unjust detention reflects a disturbing pattern of ICE targeting immigrant leaders without legal basis.
Join Us at for a Vigil Tonight, Tuesday, March 18th and a Rally on Wednesday, March 19th
The family is also calling on the community to attend a vigil tonight, Tuesday, March 18th at 6PM at the GEO detention center (3130 Oakland St, Aurora).
They are also calling for a rally in Denver in support of all those detained by ICE. Join us on Wednesday, March 19 at 3:30PM at the Tivoli Quad to demand justice for Jeanette, Mahmoud, Leqaa, and all those facing unjust detention and targeting violating their first amendment right to speech.
Who Is Jeanette Vizguerra?
Jeanette Vizguerra is one of the most recognized voices in the immigrant justice movement. In 2017, she was named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people for her courage in standing against the U.S. immigration system that has long sought to separate her from her children.
She has worked tirelessly to build her community in Colorado, organizing with SEIU as a labor organizer, volunteering in her children’s schools, and supporting countless advocacy organizations, including:
- Aurora Neighborhood Watch Program
- Rights for All People
- American Friends Service Committee
- Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
- National Domestic Workers Association
- We Belong Together
- Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition
Jeanette is also the founder of multiple community-led organizations, including Abolish ICE Denver and Sanctuary4All.
ICE’s attempt to deport Jeanette is an attack not just on her, but on every immigrant who has fought for dignity and justice. We demand her immediate release.
Signed,
Organizations:
- 18 Million Rising
- Accompaniment and Sanctuary Coalition, Colorado Springs
- Adalah Justice Project
- ACLU of Colorado
- Adams County Young Democrats
- Al Frente de La Lucha
- American Friends Service Committee
- Arapahoe Young Democrats
- Arvada Immigration Protection Team (IPT)
- Arvada United Methodist Church
- Aurora Unidos CSO
- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
- Boulder Area Labor Council
- Boulder Area Sanctuary and Immigration Coalition (BASIC)
- Boulder County Immigrant Protection Team
- Boulder Students For Justice In Palestine
- Bring Our Neighbors Home Coalition
- Caring Across Generations
- Carolina Jews for Justice
- CASA
- Casa de Paz
- Center for Health Progress
- Centro de los Trabajadores de Colorado
- Chinook Fund
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
- Cobalt Advocates
- Colorado AFL-CIO
- Colorado Center on law and Policy
- Colorado Circles for Change
- Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable
- Colorado Common Cause
- Colorado Consumer Health Initiative
- Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition
- Colorado Fiscal Institute
- Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care
- Colorado Freedom Fund
- Colorado Immigrant Protection Teams
- Colorado Jobs With Justice
- Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy, and Research Organization (CLLARO)
- Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR)
- Colorado People’s Alliance
- Colorado Springs People’s Coalition
- ColoradoWild
- Communications Workers of America District 7
- Colorado Working Families Party
- Colorado Young Democrats
- Communications Workers of America Local 7777
- Community Change Action
- Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center
- Conservation Colorado
- Convivir Colorado
- CORE: Community Organizing for Radical Empathy
- Democratic Women’s Caucus of Colorado
- Denver Aurora Community Action Committee
- Denver Classroom Teachers Association
- Denver Communists
- Denver Democratic Socialists of America
- Denver Immigrant Protection Team
- Denver Justice and Peace Committee
- DSA Fort Collins
- Edgewater Collective
- Elephant Circle
- El Grupo Vida, Inc, Denver, CO
- El Movimiento Sigue, Pueblo, CO
- Embracing Nonviolence
- Family Values @ Work
- Firebrand Communists
- First Unitarian Society of Denver
- First Universalist Church of Denver
- Foothills Unitarian Church, Fort Collins Colorado
- Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Denver
- Freedom To Thrive
- Fuerza Latina (CO)
- Grand Junction Immigrant Protection Team
- Grupo Esperanza de Colorado Springs
- Hans Meyer Law Office
- Hispanic Affairs Project (HAP)
- Hispanic Disability Support (Pasitos Gigantes)
- Housekeys Action Network Denver
- Hunger Free Colorado
- Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
- Immigrant Advocacy Committee of Mountains View Friends Meeting
- Immigrant Freedom Fund (CO)
- Indivisible CO7
- Indivisible Denver Action
- Indivisible Front Range Resistance
- Interfaith Alliance of Colorado
- InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia
- Inwood Indivisible
- ISAAC of Northern Colorado
- Jefferson County Democratic Latino Initiative
- Jefferson Unitarian Church (Golden, CO)
- Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western Mass
- Jewish Community Action
- Jewish Voice for Peace, Denver/Boulder Chapter
- Jewish Voice for Peace, Northern Colorado Pod
- Jobs With Justice
- Journey with Migrants Mission Partnership, Denver Presbytery
- Juntos Community
- Lamar Unidos
- Latina Initiative
- Latina SafeHouse
- LATINO – Latinos Associated Together Informing Networking and Outreaching
- Lavender Phoenix
- League of Women Voters of Colorado
- Local Progress Colorado
- Maine People’s Alliance
- Make the Road NV
- Make the Road NY
- Make the Road States
- Michigan United
- Mi Familia en Acción
- Mi Familia Vota
- Migrant Justice Solidarity Group with Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites
- MinKwon Center for Community Action
- Mo Morris – Galewind Films
- Motus Theater
- MomsRising
- Mountain Pride
- Movimiento Poder
- National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
- National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
- National Women’s Law Center (NWLC)
- Never Again Action
- Nishant Upadhyay, Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
- New Era Colorado
- Ohio Immigrant Alliance
- Oneamerica, Washington state
- One Colorado
- Our Voices Our Power United
- Party for Socialism and Liberation – Denver
- PCUN, Oregon’s Farmworker Union
- Peak Community Church
- People & Pollinators Action Network
- People Power United
- Pia Long, Elephant Circle
- Popular Democracy
- Progressive Democrats Initiative, Colorado Democratic Party
- ProgressNow Colorado Education
- Project Protect Food Systems Workers, a project of Front Line Farming
- Promotores de Esperanza
- Queer Crescent
- Rising Majority
- Rocky Mountain Equality
- RockyMountain Equality Action Fund
- Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN)
- Satya Yoga Cooperative
- Seed the Vote Action
- SEIU Local 105
- Servicios Sigue
- Shoes Off Collective
- Siegel Long Public Affairs
- Social Justice Council, Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
- Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN)
- Soul 2 Soul Sisters
- Southeast Asian Freedom Network
- Southern Vision Alliance
- Street Fraternity
- SURJ Denver
- Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
- The Action Lab
- The Bell Policy Center
- The BIPOC Alliance of Northern Colorado
- The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
- The Council of Mexican Federations in North America
- The G.I.F.T. Movement: Genocide Intolerance Forwarding Together
- The Immigration Task Force of Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church
- The New York Immigration Coalition
- The Redress Movement,CO
- Together Colorado
- Towards Justice
- UltraViolet
- UMAS y Mecha de CU Boulder
- Voces Unidas de las Montañas
- Western Colorado Alliance
- Western States Center
- Women’s Lobby of Colorado
- Womxn From The Mountain
- Yona Porat Law, LLC
- Young Invincibles Rocky Mountain Region
- YouthSeen & Black Pride Colorado
Elected Officials & Local Leaders:
- Amanda Gonzalez, Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder
- Amanda Perez. La Plaza Mesa County
- Barbara Durbin, Concerned citizen
- Ben Cowan, Boulder County Democratic Party Chair
- Braeden Miguel, Colorado Young Dems, National Committee Representative
- Brice Maiurro, Editor-in-Chief, South Broadway Press
- Bryan Lindstrom, Aurora Education Association, Political Committee Chair
- Celestial Alegría
- Chris Davis, Chair of the Colorado Young Democrats
- Commissioner Andy Kerr, Jefferson County, District 2
- Commissioner Emma Pinter, Adams County, Colorado
- Commissioner Jessica Campbell, Arapahoe County, District 2
- Commissioner John Kefalas, Larimer County, Colorado
- Commissioner Kristin Stephens, Larimer County
- Commissioner Marta Loachamin, Boulder County, District 2
- Commissioner Nina Waters, Summit County, CO
- Commissioner Tamara Pogue, Summit County, Colorado
- Councilman Joel Newton, Edgewater City Council
- Councilmember & Mayor Pro Tem Susie Hidalgo-Fahring, Longmont, Ward 3
- Councilmember Sarah Parady, Denver City Council, At Large
- Councilmember Shawna Ambrose, Arvada City Council District 2
- Councilor Isabel Cruz, Lakewood City Council, Ward 2
- Councilwoman Alicia Johnson, Evans City Council, Ward 3
- Councilwoman Alison Coombs, Aurora City Council, At-Large
- Councilwoman Amanda P. Sandoval, Denver City Council President
- Councilwoman Crystal Murillo, Aurora City Council, Ward 1
- Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez, Denver City Council, District 7
- Councilwoman Hannah Gay Keao, City of Edgewater
- Councilwoman Jamie Torres, Denver City Council
- Councilwoman Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Denver City Council, At-large
- Councilwoman Shiquita Yarbrough, Longmont City At Large
- Councilwoman Shontel M. Lewis, Denver City Council, District 8
- Council Womxn, Renée Chacon, Commerce City, Ward III
- Denver Public Schools, School Board Director Xóchitl Gaytán
- Dr. Alejandra B. Portilos, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Regis University
- Dr. Bryan Rojas-Araúz, In Lak’ech Counseling / DU Professor
- Dr. Lynn Holland, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
- Dr. Margaret Thompson, Professor Emerita, University of Denver
- Dr. Whitney L. Duncan, Professor of Anthropology, University of Northern Colorado
- Elizabeth Sullivan, First Vice Chair of Jefferson County Young Democrats
- Ellen Buckley, Board Chair, Women’s Lobby of Colorado
- Erin Myrent, Board Member, Women’s Lobby of Colorado
- Heidi Henkel, Broomfield City and County Ward 5
- Hon. former Councilmember Juan Marcano, Aurora, Ward 4
- Hon. Gail Pough, former State Representative
- Hon. Leslie Herod, former Colorado State Representative
- Hon. Polly Baca, former Colorado State Senator
- Hon. Rey Galindo, former Colorado State Representative
- Hon. Tim Hernandez, former Colorado State Representative
- Iriana Medina, La Plaza
- Jasmin Ramirez, Roaring Fork School District, School Board Vice Chair
- Jeremi Medina, Vice Chair of Community Engagement of Colorado Young Democrats
- Jeri Shepherd, former DNC member, chair, Weld County Democratic Party
- Joel Pancoast, Pastor – Zion Lutheran Church (ELCA), Loveland, CO
- José Torres Vega, Co-Executive Director, El Grupo Vida, Volunteer Non-Attorney Advocate, CCDC, Member of CDDC, Chairman, Rocky Mountain Human Services Board of Directors and Denver’s CAC, Member of JeffCo CAC
- Lisa Cutter, Colorado State Senate District 20, Assistant Majority Leader
- Liz Webb, Chair of the Weld Young Dems, host of The Left-Wing Wave
- Michael Neil, PhD, Volunteer Colorado Cross-Disability Committee, Member State Central Committee and State Executive Committee, Interim Chair Disability Strong Democrats, Colorado Democratic Party, and Platform Chair, Denver Democratic Party
- Michael Westerberg, J.D. LL.M., Arapahoe County Colorado Treasurer
- Molly Fitzpatrick, Boulder County Clerk and Recorder
- Nick Hinrichsen, Colorado Senate District 3, Majority Whip
- Professor Aaron Schneider, University of Denver
- Rebecca Andruszka, Board Member, Women’s Lobby of Colorado
- Rebecca Galemba, Professor, DU Center for Immigration Policy & Research
- Rebecca Shelley, Faith and Justice Team, Our Saviour Lutheran Church
- Reilly Vail Jackson, Vice Chair of Communications for the Boulder Young Democrats
- Representative Elizabeth Velasco, Colorado House District 57
- Representative Jennifer Bacon Colorado House District 7, Assistant Majority Leader,
- Representative Lorena Garcia, Colorado House District 35
- Representative Manny Rutinel, Colorado State District 32
- Reverend Amy Morgan, First United Presbyterian Church of Loveland
- Reverend Veronica Gould, Zion Lutheran Church in Loveland
- Samuel Jarris | 2nd Vice Chair Disability Strong Democrats
- Senator Cathy Kipp Colorado State Senate District 14
- Senator James Rashad Coleman, Sr. – Colorado Senate District 33, Colorado Senate President
- Senator Julie Gonzales, Colorado State Senate District 34
- Senator Mike Weissman, Colorado State Senate District 28
- Vicky Lopez, Chair of the Jefferson County Democratic Latino Initiative