US judge blocks Trump administration from deporting immigration activist

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday temporarily barred the Trump administration from deporting an immigration activist whose detention in Colorado this week outraged state Democrats and immigration rights advocates.

Jeanette Vizguerra, 53, a Mexican national who made headlines during President Donald Trump's first term by moving into a church to avoid deportation, cannot be moved out of Colorado without further court action, U.S. District Judge Nina Wang ruled.

The judge has scheduled a hearing on March 28.

Vizguerra was arrested in Denver on Monday, according to a post on X from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has filed petitions in both federal district court and a U.S. appeals court challenging her detention order as invalid.

The Trump administration has implemented a wide-ranging immigration crackdown since he took office in January, following a campaign in which he vowed to institute mass deportations and sharply reduce illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Vizguerra's arrest sparked a protest outside the ICE facility where she is being held. Several Colorado Democrats have criticized her detention, noting that she has several children who are U.S. citizens and has never been accused of a violent crime.

"This is Soviet-style political persecution of political dissidents under the guise of immigration enforcement," Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said following the arrest. "This is a mom of American citizens who works at Target and has started a community non-profit."

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's court order.

Vizguerra first entered the U.S. illegally in 1997, according to a 2019 lawsuit she filed against ICE. She has been fighting various deportation efforts since 2009, when she was found with a fraudulent Social Security card during a traffic stop and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

She drew national attention when she began living in a church in 2017 to prevent the first Trump administration from deporting her and later received a one-year reprieve from the Biden administration in 2021.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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