U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are violating Jeanette Vizguerra’s First Amendment rights by targeting the outspoken Colorado immigration advocate for deportation, her attorneys argued in federal court in Denver on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Nina Wang held a short hearing on the high-profile immigration case, but did not rule on Vizguerra’s request to be freed. Vizguerra, 53, remained held at the Aurora ICE facility on a 2013 removal order and did not attend the hearing at the Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse.
Laura Lichter, Vizguerra’s lead attorney, called the activist’s detainment by ICE “retaliatory.”
“I believe that the targeting here of Jeanette is in line with what we are seeing in other types of cases where people are being targeted for showing up at protests, for posting certain messages on social media, for having a particular opinion,” Lichter said.
The judge granted the request by Vizguerra’s lawyers to amend their emergency petition for a writ of habeas corpus — a request to determine the validity of a person’s detention –with the new claim that ICE infringed on the advocate’s freedom of speech.
Wang previously had ordered the Trump administration not to deport Vizguerra or move her out of state until her petition is litigated. Vizguerra also has a case filed with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that ICE’s removal order is not valid.
Federal prosecutors did not oppose the amendment to add the First Amendment claim, which must be filed by April 8. From there, the federal government has 21 days to respond.
Vizguerra’s attorneys also complained to the judge that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services contacted her directly without her lawyers present about a “reasonable fear” screening: a process that takes place during a removal order when an asylum officer assesses the merits of a detainee’s fears about returning to their country.
That screening is scheduled to take place Monday.
“We are frustrated with how USCIS… has been conducting itself,” Lichter said in the courtroom.
Federal prosecutors said the agency is following procedure, but Lichter has argued against the validity of any removal order for Vizguerra.
“The agency has an obligation to fulfill its regulations,” Timothy Jafek with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He and other federal lawyers are representing Aurora ICE processing center warden Dawn Ceja, ICE field office director Robert Guadian, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
Until a court tells ICE its removal order is invalid, the agency will follow its regulations, Jafek added. That elicited a question from Wang: “How can ICE trigger that (process) if it is in dispute?”
The federal attorneys agreed that Vizguerra’s attorney can be present at the reasonable fear screening.
Vizguerra was detained by federal agents on March 17 outside her workplace, a Denver-area Target store. Almost two weeks have passed since then, and attendees of multiple protests and vigils have called for her release — as have elected officials, including Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
Vizguerra, who first crossed the border from Mexico illegally in 1997, is known nationwide for her immigration advocacy after sheltering in two Denver churches to avoid deportation during Trump’s first term.
At an evening news conference on the steps of the Denver City and County Building, supporters of Vizguerra — including two of her children, Luna and Roberto Baez — echoed her arguments that she’s being retaliated against.
“She’s trying to speak out. She went to all these protests; she went and tried to help all these people,” her 18-year-old son Roberto said, “and that’s specifically why they targeted her.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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