Jeanette Vizguerra’s U-Visa Denied While in Sanctuary Second Time
Denver, CO – Immigrant rights leader and undocumented mother and grandmother, Jeanette Vizguerra, has been living at the First Unitarian Society for three months, which is the second time she has claimed sanctuary from deportation. On June 20, 2019, she held a press conference at the church to share news that her U-visa application was denied six years after its submission.
Watch some highlights in our video from the press conference:
Vizguerra applied for a U-visa after suffering from a violent crime in the United States. These types of visas are “set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website.
However, Vizguerra’s deportation case started in 2009, when she was pulled over and was found to be driving without a driver’s license and with false documentation. The documentation she had contained her name with a made-up social security number.
Then in 2011, instead of giving a deportation order, an immigration judge granted Vizguerra a voluntary departure, which she did not request. Vizguerra took action to appeal the decision, so that she could stay in the country where her children lived, and where she had lived since 1997.
While the appeal was pending in 2012, her mother was dying of cancer in Mexico. Vizguerra knew if she left the country, her appeal would get cancelled, and having migrated on foot before, she knew the journey would not be easy, but she still decided to go back for a short time.
During her return on foot in 2013, she was detained at the border and the officers began deportation proceedings because they assumed she had been given an official deportation order. After her lawyer spoke with ICE officers in El Paso, TX, she was allowed to return home to Denver, where she was granted a five-month stay of deportation.
During the press conference, Vizguerra laid out the reasons USCIS gave for their denial, and why she believes they are not legitimate. In their denial letter, USCIS argues that when Vizguerra was detained at the border in her return to the U.S. in 2013, she was pressuring the other people she was arrested with to remain silent and was telling them their rights, as well as, telling them to lie. Vizguerra concedes that she did inform the other detainees of their rights, which include the right to remain silent, however she said she did not tell them to lie.
In their letter to Vizguerra, USCIS also argues she does not deserve the visa because she was arrested for using false papers, driving without a driver’s license, and entered the country illegally, and to that Vizguerra responded (translated from Spanish to English):
“And when they mention this, I would like to tell the Department of Homeland Security, of Visas, even President Trump, when are they going to give explanations of the hundreds of times they have lied and officers have falsified signatures with arrest warrants? When are they going to give explanations of the children in cages that are still not reunified? This is an attack on humanity.”
She went on to talk about the false papers:
“That’s all we as undocumented immigrants have to use to work to be able to provide for our families, for our children, to put food on the table, with no intention of harming third parties.”
Vizguerra’s lawyer, Bryce Downer, is filing for a motion to reconsider the decision of USCIS. During the press conference, he stated that he believes the denial letter includes
“extremely personal and vile attacks against her. I’ve done many of these cases for U-visas throughout my time as an attorney and I’ve never once seen a denial that I believe to be so personal and it’s such an attack. It is disheartening to see that this is coming from our government. The example that they’re setting, not only for Jeanette, but for the rest of the community at large, is that do not apply for U-visas, do not come forward, do not make society a safer, better place for all of us.”
Vizguerra first entered sanctuary on February 15, 2017, when she decided to skip a scheduled check-in with her Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Officer because she had a strong feeling that her stay of living in the United States would be denied.
Her feeling turned out to be correct because later that day, her lawyer informed her that her stay had indeed been denied, and there were armed ICE officers at the check-in seemingly ready to arrest her.
After nearly three months living at the First Unitarian Society, she was able to walk free due to ICE giving her a two-year stay of deportation. When those two years ended, Vizguerra made the choice to re-enter sanctuary.
Unicorn Riot will continue to provide updates on Jeanette Vizguerra’s case when they become available.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
Unicorn Riot's Coverage of the Sanctuary Movement and Immigration:
- Eugenics, Border Wars & Population Control: The Tanton Network (August 22, 2022)
- Reports of Forced Sterilizations in ICE Facility Spark Protest (September 22, 2020)
- GEO Group’s ICE Jail Lies to Immigration Lawyer, Attempts Unlawful Deportation (July 2, 2020)
- Racial Justice Teach-in at Abolish ICE Camp in Aurora CO (June 13, 2020)
- Another Immigrant Claims Sanctuary from Deportation in Colorado (Feb. 14, 2020)
- Immigrant Rights Advocates Rally in Response to Rotten Food Given to Detainees (Jan. 6, 2020)
- Ingrid Encalada Latorre Pardoned After 2+ Years Claiming Sanctuary (Dec. 28, 2019)
- The Price to Oversee ICE: 200+ Protesters March in Aurora Suburb Home to GEO Group ICE Warden (Sep. 30, 2019)
- Twin Cities Jewish Community Blockades ICE Building, 27 Cited (Aug. 2, 2019)
- Passions Run High at ‘Close the Concentration Camps’ Protest (July 22, 2019)
- Hundreds in CO Plan Rally to ‘Close the Concentration Camps’ (July 12, 2019)
- Thousands March in Minneapolis to Stop Separating Families (June 30, 2019)
- Jeanette Vizguerra’s U-Visa Denied While in Sanctuary Second Time (June 27, 2019)
- CO Community Gathers Outside GEO ICE Facility on Longest Day of Year (June 21, 2019)
- Occupy ICE Denver Camps Outside GEO ICE Detention Center (Oct. 29, 2018)
- #OccupyICE Movement Grows Momentum in Colorado (Aug. 6, 2018)
- ICE Occupation Emerges at Denver Field Office (July 30, 2018)
- Philadelphia Reduces Police Help To ICE; ‘Occupy ICE’ Camp Moves (July 30, 2018)
- Protesters Occupy Philadelphia ICE Office (July 2, 2018)
- Protests Target ICE Contractor General Dynamics (June 29, 2018)
- Ninth Annual CO Love Knows No Borders, No Walls Vigil (Feb. 5, 2018)
- November Vigil at GEO Group ICE Detention Center in CO (Nov. 6, 2017)
- Ingrid Encalada Latorre Returns to Sanctuary; Four Claim Sanctuary in CO (Oct. 27, 2017)
- Ingrid Encalada Latorre Leaves Sanctuary After Six Months; Granted Temporary Stay (May 27, 2017)
- Indonesian Undocumented Immigrant Detained at ICE Check-In (May 24, 2017)
- Jeanette Vizguerra, Among Others, Celebrate Victories Against ICE Deportation Attempts (May 17, 2017)
- Sanctuary Movement Leader, Arturo Hernandez Garcia, Detained by ICE While at Work (April 30, 2017)
- Jeanette Vizguerra Named One of Time’s 100 Most Influential People as She Remains in Sanctuary (April 22, 2017)
- Crisis: Borderlands (March 14, 2017)
- Arizona Anti-ICE Demo Meets Arrests and Chemical Agents (Feb. 17, 2017)
- Deportations Begin Under Trump’s Regime (Feb. 14, 2017)
- Love Knows No BAN No Walls Vigil at GEO ICE Detention Center (Feb. 8, 2017)
Unicorn Riot's Coverage of the Asylum Seekers at the US/Mexico border:
- Military and Militias Deploy to US/Mexico Border to Confront Caravan of Asylum Seekers (Nov. 8, 2018)
- Asylum Seekers from Caravans Gather Along U.S./Mexico Border (Nov. 23, 2018)
- Tear Gas at Border as Asylum Seekers Attempt to Cross (Nov. 26, 2018)
- Migrants Speak as Thousands Continue to Arrive (Nov. 28, 2018)
- Migrants Moved to New Center as Hunger Strike Continues (Dec. 3, 2018)
- Border Patrol Arrests Migrants Crossing U.S./Mexico Border Wall (Dec. 4, 2018)
- Hunger Strike Ends with March on U.S. Consulate (Dec 11,2018)
- Faith Leaders March on U.S. Border in Solidarity With Migrants (Dec 13,2018)
#Icebreaker Series - Unicorn Riot series on ICE policy manuals
- Icebreaker Pt 1 – Secret Homeland Security ICE/HSI Manual for Stripping US Citizenship (Feb. 14, 2018)
- Icebreaker Pt 2 – Confidential Homeland Security Asset Forfeiture and Search and Seizure Handbooks (Feb. 22, 2018)
- Icebreaker Pt 3 – Confidential Homeland Security Fugitive and Compliance Enforcement Handbooks (Feb. 28, 2018)
- Icebreaker Pt 4 – Homeland Security Special Agent On-the-Job Training Manual (Apr. 27, 2018)
- Icebreaker Pt 5 – Confidential Homeland Security Undercover Operations Handbook (Jun. 22, 2018)
- Icebreaker Pt 6 – Leaked ICE Special Response Team Handbook for Planning and Executing Armed Raids (Sept. 18, 2019)
- Icebreaker Pt 7 - ICE Case Management Handbook Based on Federal Law Enforcement "System of Systems” (Dec. 13, 2019)
- Icebreaker Pt 8 – Leaked ICE Handbooks for T and U Visa Application Investigations (Dec. 18, 2019)
- Icebreaker Pt 9 – Leaked Interrogation and Arrest ICE Manuals (Jan. 1, 2020)
- Icebreaker Pt 10 – Leaked ICE Agent Private Bill and Commercial Trade Fraud Investigation Handbooks (Jan. 4, 2020)
- Icebreaker Pt 11 – Bush/Clinton Era Customs Investigators Manuals (Feb. 13, 2020)