Jeanette Vizguerra, an illegal immigrant who first came into the U.S. in 1997, took refuge in a Denver church to avoid being deported Wednesday.
Vizguerra has worked as a janitor, housecleaner, and house painter and has raised four children in the U.S., three of whom were born here. She is being deported because she has misdemeanors on her record stemming from being caught using a made-up Social Security number in 2009 and sneaking back into the country in 2013 after leaving when her mother was terminally ill, according to CNN.
Trump signed an executive order Jan. 25 stating illegal immigrants with criminal records were to be given priority for deportation.
Vizguerra had spent years fighting deportation orders and getting stays on her 2011 final deportation order. The last stay expired last week, according to CNN, so she skipped her check-in with ICE and moved into the church’s basement, which had been set aside to provide refuge to illegal immigrants in danger of deportation.
About 100 supporters protested outside the ICE building as Vizguerra’s lawyer and minister met with agents about her case, The Associated Press reported. They were told she could not get any more extensions because of her criminal record and because her deportation order had been issued in 2011.
ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer called Vizguerra an “enforcement priority,” the AP said.
Trump’s immigration plans include building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, cutting federal funding to cities that don’t enforce his executive orders, and making those with outstanding deportation orders a priority for deportation.
Vizguerra had fought her deportation for years and even became an advocate for others facing deportation, CNN reported.
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