Rallies have been held following the sudden ICE abductions of immigrant activists Jeanette Vizguerra in Colorado and Alfredo “Lelo” 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 “Lelo” 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 “violently” by ICE on the morning of Tuesday, March 25.
Over 100 demonstrators gathered outside an ICE facility in Ferndale, Washington on Tuesday, holding signs reading “Free Lelo now,” “Not one more,” and “Lelo is a political detainee”.
“He 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,” the organization wrote on social media. “We feel this is a targeted attack on Farmworker leadership, and we must not allow this to continue.”
“We 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.”
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 “Free Jeanette” and “ICE are the invaders—not immigrants!”
“Jeanette’s lawyers have stated that she was NOT issued orders of removal and her detention is unlawful,” wrote the Denver branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which has been active in immigrant rights organizing in the wider Denver area. “The 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.”
GEO Group, the for-profit corporation which runs the Aurora ICE facility where Vizguerra is being held, had invested USD 70 million into the detention center in order to “meet the anticipated requirements of the federal government’s immigration law enforcement priorities” 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 a documented history of using solitary confinement, an internationally-recognized form of torture, as a disciplinary measure against detainees who refused to clean common areas for free.
