Jeanette Vizguerra, the mother of four who took sanctuary in a Denver church in February to avoid immigration authorities, will now be able to walk free after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Thursday granted her a stay of deportation until 2019.
Jennifer Piper, program director for interfaith organizing with the American Friends Service Committee in Denver, confirmed to The Denver Post via phone late Thursday night that both Vizguerra and Arturo Hernandez Garcia, the man who had previously sought sanctuary in a Denver church and was recently arrested by ICE agents, had gotten a nearly 2-year deportation stay.
Vizguerra’s story has generated international headlines and prompted TIME magazine last month to name her one of the magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
The law firm representing Vizguerra, who is from Mexico and has lived illegally in the United States for two decades, posted a message on its Facebook page late Thursday that said Vizguerra’s stay of removal is good through March 15, 2019.
Three of Vizguerra’s children are U.S. citizens.
“Jeanette Vizguerra will leave sanctuary at the First Baptist Church of Denver tomorrow morning at 8:30,” the post from The Meyer Law Office reads.
There is a press conference scheduled for Friday morning and both Vizguerra and Hernandez Garcia will attend. There was little information about Hernandez Garcia’s case Thursday night but The Meyer Law Firm did state in its Facebook post that had also been “granted a stay of removal.”
Hernandez Garcia, a Mexican man who lived in the basement of the First Unitarian Society in 2014 and 2015 and emerged from sanctuary after he was told he was no longer an immigration priority, was arrested on April 26 by ICE agents. He was taken into custody while at work as a flooring contractor.
Vizguerra had initially taken sanctuary at the First Unitarian Society in February after her stay of removal expired and she chose not to attend a scheduled meeting with ICE, fearing immediate deportation under a new presidential administration that has made it clear it will take a hard line on illegal immigration.
Piper said Thursday that Vizguerra had since moved to First Baptist Church, several blocks west of First Unitarian, but didn’t say when that happened.
Hans Meyer, Vizguerra’s attorney, praised his client for the 86 days she spent in the church. He said on Facebook that she demonstrated “unimaginable courage to fight for her family, for basic due process of law, and for fundamental fairness in our immigration system.”
The online message also included statements from U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder. Bennet said he was “pleased to hear that Jeanette and Arturo have been granted temporary stays.”
“We have been working closely with them on their cases — coordinating with their lawyers, and we introduced private bills for each in the Senate,” he said.
Polis, who appeared with Vizguerra at a press conference in the church in March and sharply criticized a local ICE official, introduced private bill H.R. 752 on Vizguerra’s behalf in January.
“After living in a church basement for months, ICE has finally decided to do what they should have done in the first place and given her a new stay of removal while Congress considers legislation specific to her case,” Polis said.
