Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented mom once named to Time’s 100 Most Influential list, has been detained by ICE in Colorado

An undocumented mother and high-profile activist was detained by ICE while she was on a work break from her job at Target, her attorney and a family friend say.

An undocumented mother and immigration reform activist who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement feared she was being followed in recent days, her daughter told CNN. Jeanette Vizguerra gained international attention in 2017 when she took sanctuary in a Denver church for three years to avoid deportation during President Donald Trump’s first term. That same year, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. She is now being held at a detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, her attorney Laura Lichter told CNN. Vizguerra, a mother of four, was arrested Monday at a Denver-area Target store where she worked, Jordan Garcia of the American Friends Service Committee, who has been in contact with Vizguerra’s lawyer and family, told the Associated Press. Vizguerra has been trying to gain a visa given to crime victims that allows them to remain in the United States since she left sanctuary in churches in 2020, Garcia said. Petitions challenging her detention have been filed in both Denver’s federal court and the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Vizguerra was taken into custody by ICE officers Monday outside the store where she works as a cashier, family friend Judith Marquez told CNN.