A well-known immigration activist who hid in a Colorado church for years to avoid deportation has been arrested, a move Denver Mayor Mike Johnston called “Soviet-style persecution” of political dissidents.

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. 

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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.”

Johnston was one of four sanctuary mayors grilled earlier this month by Congressional lawmakers about their respective city’s sanctuary policies at the fiery hearing.

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!!!!”

Images posted on Vizguerra’s Facebook account depict protests against ICE and calls to abolish the agency. One image posted on Oct. 14, 2019 depicts a Native American scalping President Donald Trump, who is shown on his knees with two arrows piercing his torso. 

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

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Vizguerra has a long history with immigration authorities. In 2009, she was the subject of an ICE detainer in Denver. That same year, she was convicted of second-degree forged instrument possession and sentenced to 23 days in jail. 

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. 

In September 2012, she voluntarily returned to her native Mexico. She was arrested in 2013 by ICE in El Paso, Texas and ordered to be deported. 

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

In 2019, Vizguerra skipped an appointment with an immigration official and sought sanctuary at the First Unitarian Society Church in Denver. 

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