Federal judge orders ICE not to deport immigration advocate Jeanette Vizguerra

A federal judge in Colorado on Friday issued an order calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to deport prominent local immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra.

The order calls on ICE and other Trump administration officials not to deport or move Vizguerra out of Colorado until her legal detention challenge is litigated, the Denver Post reports.

U.S. District Judge Nina Wang sided with Vizguerra and said the defendants, including Johnny Choate, the warden of the ICE detention center in Aurora, could not deport her.

ICE Denver field office interim director Ernesto Santacruz, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi are also named in the order.

Vizguerra’s high-profile arrest on Monday alarmed advocates and immigrants as she joined a growing list of nonviolent figures targeted by Trump’s administration.

Vizguerra is a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. without authorization in 1997. She lived in legal limbo for decades, and was on break from her job at a Target store when she was arrested by ICE this week.

Vizguerra’s arrest galvanized Democrats and leftists in metro Denver, who called for her immediate release.

A hearing in her case is set for March 28.