Hundreds rally outside the Aurora GEO ICE detention center to demand release of Jeanette Vizguerra (Photo: Party for Socialism and Liberation.
By Natalia Marques – Mar 26, 2025
Jeanette Vizguerra and Alfredo āLeloā Juarez are the latest to be swept up in Trumpās ongoing crackdown against migrants involved in political activism
Rallies have been held following the sudden ICE abductions of immigrant activists Jeanette Vizguerra in Colorado and Alfredo āLeloā Juarez in Washington State.
Longtime immigrant rights activist Jeannette Vizguerra was detained by immigration authorities while working at her retail job at Target on March 17, chained at the waist by federal agents while on a work break.
Alfredo āLeloā Juarez Zeferino is a union organizer who has been organizing fellow farmworkers since he began picking berries at 14 years old. According to the organization Community to Community Development, where Zeferino volunteers, the labor organizer was detained āviolentlyā by ICE on the morning of Tuesday, March 25.
Over 100 demonstratorsĀ gatheredĀ outside an ICE facility in Ferndale, Washington on Tuesday, holding signs reading āFree Lelo now,ā āNot one more,ā and āLelo is a political detaineeā.
āHe was on his way to drop off his partner at her work place, and ICE agents broke his car window when he tried to exercise his rights,ā the organizationĀ wroteĀ on social media. āWe feel this is a targeted attack on Farmworker leadership, and we must not allow this to continue.ā
āWe must not allow any more attack on workers. As Unions, community organizations, student groups, and people who have decency, We Demand That ICE stays out of Washington and let workers be at peace. Immigrants are not the enemy, we are part of the worker movement towards justice which includes fair wages, healthcare,education, housing, and solidarity.ā
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On the night of March 24, hundreds gathered outside of the Aurora GEO ICE detention center where Jeanette Vizguerra is currently being held, marking seven days since her abduction by ICE agents. Demonstrators held signs with slogans such as āFree Jeanetteā and āICE are the invadersānot immigrants!ā
āJeanetteās lawyers have stated that she was NOT issued orders of removal and her detention is unlawful,āĀ wroteĀ the Denver branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which has been active in immigrant rights organizing in the wider Denver area. āThe people of Colorado know Jeanette was targeted because of her activism, and we will continue to fight for her and all others who have been unjustly detained.ā
GEO Group, the for-profit corporation which runs the Aurora ICE facility where Vizguerra is being held, hadĀ invested USD 70 millionĀ into the detention center in order toĀ āmeet the anticipated requirements of the federal governmentās immigration law enforcement prioritiesā under Trump.
The Aurora ICE facility has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, including a class action lawsuit in 2014, filed by immigrant detainees who alleged that GEO Group staff threatened them with solitary confinement if they did not work for free. In fact, the Aurora facility has aĀ documented historyĀ of using solitary confinement, an internationally-recognized form of torture, as a disciplinary measure against detainees who refused to clean common areas for free.
