Mexican immigration activist who hid in Colorado church for years to avoid deportation arrested by ICE

Jeanette Vizguerra, a mother, Target employee and immigration reform advocate, was taken into custody in Aurora on Monday. Vizguerra was the subject of a deportation order and had multiple stays preventing her removal, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said. 

Despite having a final order of deportation stretching back to the Obama administration, some Democrats have claimed that Vizguerra has not had due process. 

Johnston addressed the arrests on Tuesday. 

"This is not immigration enforcement. This is Soviet-style political persecution of political dissidents under the guise of immigration enforcement," he said. "This is not someone with a criminal record. This is the mom of American citizens who works and Target."

"This is not something that makes our community safer in my mind," he added. "I think it makes our community lawless."

John Fabbricatore, a retired ICE field office director, said he was prohibited from deporting Vizguerra during the Biden administration. 

"The Biden administration kept me from deporting Jeanette Vizguerra 4 years ago," he wrote on X. "She should have been deported in 2009 as well. She hid in a church the first time Trump was President. She is a criminal, hates Trump, and is an open-borders, abolish-ICE advocate. Bye!!!!"

"This is how you can make America great again," the caption states. 

In March 2009, after being released by ICE, she was convicted of failure to display proof of insurance, driving without a license and ordered to pay fines.

In 2011, a federal immigration judge denied Vizguerra's application for relief from immigration proceedings, but granted her a voluntary departure. She failed to depart the U.S. per the terms of the order within the 60-day window and instead filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals. 

She was eventually released because she didn't meet the agency's priorities for removal under policies at the time. 

She later clandestinely moved to the First Baptist Church a short distance away, where she became a leader in the sanctuary movement.