FUSDEN Jeanette Vizguerra History
Posted Date: Aug 23, 2017- 9:18am | Author:
Jeanette Vizguerra immigrated to Colorado with her daughter and husband from her native Mexico City, Mexico in 1997 after her husband was threatened at gunpoint. Initially, Jeanette worked cleaning office buildings and became a member and later organizer of SEIU Local 105, where she fought for better pay and benefits for janitors. She joined Rights for All People, a local community organization, and worked to establish trust and relationship between the immigrant community and the police. She and her husband started a moving and cleaning company and eventually had three more US citizen children.
In 2009, Jeanette was placed into deportation proceedings following a routine traffic stop which resulted in a conviction in the Arapahoe County Court for using a false SS number. In her immigration case, Jeanette applied for Cancellation of Removal, but her case was denied by the Denver Immigration Judge on November 18, 2011.
She appealed her case to the Board of Immigration Appeals, but while her appeal was pending, she received a call from Mexico that her mother was dying. Since there are no humanitarian visas or programs available for those circumstances Jeanette decided she had to be at her mother’s side before she died. She flew to Mexico the next day but, while she was in the air, her mother died. In departing, Jeanette withdrew her pending BIA appeal.
Seven months later, Jeanette attempted to return to the United States to continue to care for her three U.S. citizen children but was apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection. On May 1, 2013 she pleaded guilty to one count of illegal entry under 8 USC 1325(a)(1) and was sentenced to one year unsupervised probation.
On June 7, 2013, Jeanette was released from ICE custody in El Paso, Texas under an Order of Supervision that ordered her to report to the ICE field office in Centennial, CO on July 10, 2013. She appeared, and was then ordered to check in a second time, on July 24, 2013. At that check-in, Jeanette was taken into custody. She filed an I-246, Application for Stay of Deportation or Removal for a period of one year, which was granted on August 8, 2013. Jeanette has fully complied with all terms of her Stay of Removal and received five extensions. On February 8, 2016, Jeanette filed a U-Visa application to USCIS as a victim of crime who cooperated with law enforcement officials in the prosecution of that crime.
Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, on February 15, 2017, ICE denied Jeanette’s sixth Stay of Removal renewal application, and she entered into sanctuary at First Unitarian. On May 5 ICE issued an order staying her order of deportation for two years.