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DENVER (CN) — A federal judge on Friday ordered Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to halt deportation proceedings against a prominent immigrant rights activist living in Colorado.
During Donald Trump’s first presidency, Jeanette Vizguerra-Ramirez took refuge inside a Denver church for three years to avoid deportation and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2017.
ICE detained Vizguerra-Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, on March 17 outside the Target store where she worked.
“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,” wrote U.S. Judge Nina Wang in a six-page order.
A mother of four, Vizguerra-Ramirez fled to the U.S. in 1997 and is currently seeking a visa.
Vizguerra-Ramirez filed a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District of Colorado along with a petition for review before the 10th Circuit on March 18.
Wang said keeping Vizguerra-Ramirez in the U.S. is necessary to ensure the court maintains jurisdiction over her petition.
“In light of these unusual circumstances, this court respectfully concludes that an injunction is necessary to preserve the status quo and permit this court the opportunity to thoughtfully consider the issues raised by both sides to achieve the ends of justice entrusted to this court,” the Joe Biden appointee wrote.
A petition from the nonprofit American Friends Service Committee listing Vizguerra-Ramirez’s community service work has gained support from 10,863 people. Through a GoFundMe campaign, Vizguerra-Ramirez’s family raised $62,217 from 1,100 donors to support her legal costs.
“My mom has fought relentlessly for her community and it is time for all of us to now come together and show all the support for her like she has done to us,” wrote Vizguerra-Ramirez’s daughter Luna Baez. “I’d love to stress that my mom is not only a pillar but an essential part to our lives.”
In a statement issued at the time of her detainment, Colorado Governor Jared Polis urged the federal agency to focus on capturing violent offenders and to communicate more transparently with the states in which they are working.
“Jeanette is a mother and grandmother, has spent decades in our country, helping the community, has a job, has no history of violence, is not a threat to the community, and above all else, deserves due process pursuant to the law,” Polis said in the statement. “I continue to urge President Trump and ICE to focus their actions on violent offenders."
On X, John Fabbricatore, a former director of ICE’s office in Denver, celebrated the arrest with four exclamation points in writing “Bye!!!!”
“She is a criminal, hates Trump, and is an open-borders, abolish-ICE advocate,” wrote Fabbricatore, who lost a bid to represent Aurora in Congress last year, even as Trump used the Colorado city as a symbol to support an immigration policy dubbed “Operation Aurora” promising to target members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Vizguerra-Ramirez is represented by Denver attorney Mark Barr of Lichter Immigration, who did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
U.S. Attorney Timothy Jafek is representing the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The agency did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
Vizguerra-Ramirez is being held at the GEO-managed ICE Processing Center in Aurora, Colorado.
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