Jeanette Vizguerra, activist seeking sanctuary in Denver church, denied visa application to avoid deportation

A woman who has become one of the faces of undocumented immigrants’ struggles in Colorado was denied her application for a U visa to become a lawful resident in the United States.

Jeanette Vizguerra has been seeking sanctuary at the First Unitarian Society of Denver church since her stay of deportation expired earlier this year. In 2017, she lived at the church for 86 days to avoid being deported to Mexico before she was granted the stay.

Vizguerra has been in the U.S. for almost 25 years.

U visas provide a way for undocumented immigrants to legally reside in the U.S. if they are approved. Immigrants who have been victims of or witnesses to crime and cooperate with law enforcement and district attorneys on those investigations are eligible.

Vizguerra and her attorney, who said she has been a crime victim, addressed community members and media outlets Thursday at a livestreamed event at the church. Her attorney Bryce Downer said that while U visa denials have increased in recent years, Vizguerra’s denial “particularly egregious.”

The mother who was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2017 ties the denial to her outspokenness and work for immigrant rights. She said her comments to the New York Times about her case were cited in the denial.

“They’re blocking me because of my activism,” she said through a translator. “They’re blocking me because of my willingness to speak out. They’re targeting me in ways that we haven’t seen other people targeted in the past.”

Vizguerra told the crowd gathered that she has worked for almost two decades to educate immigrants about their rights and to speak out against unjust systems.

The U visa denial cited 11 factors, Vizguerra said. Those included a criminal history, a period of time in 2017 during which she let her passport expire while she was in sanctuary, a brief period during which she left the U.S. to visit her dying mother in Mexico, and not learning from her previous mistakes.

“What they’re trying to do in this denial is attack my moral character and undermine my credibility,” she said.

Vizguerra referenced her misdemeanor conviction for using a fake Social Security number to work. She called the accusation of identity theft a lie because she said she always used her own name but needed the number to be able to work and provide for her family. The rest of the criminal history is related to traffic stops, she said.

But Vizguerra said it’s clear that she has learned from her mistakes — she works on education campaigns about identity theft and fraud, and she hasn’t had any traffic stops since 2009.

“It’s evident that I’m trying to transform these systems and to transform myself to learn and grow,” she said.

Downer called Vizguerra’s convictions “crimes of necessity” and said if she could have avoided them, she would have. He called the denial and the statements in the letter “shameful” and “personal attacks.”