Jeanette Vizguerra is a Colorado community activist and leader who is facing deportation and removal back to Mexico. Jeanette has led the fight against her own deportation now since 2009. She previously sought refuge at a Denver church rather than expose her family to the dangers of Trump’s immigration agents. In 2017, Jeanette was recognized as one of Time Magazine’s most influential people for standing up against the oppressive immigration system that sought to separate her from her children. 

Mother of four children, and grandmother of three, Jeanette has taken her fight as visible and vocal as her resistance for herself and others. She is the pillar of the family; her children and grandchildren are the motivation in her life. She provides security and confidence in their young lives and wants to continue to protect them. Jeanette has lived in Colorado for almost 30 years. She has dedicated much of her life to advocating for her community. She worked for SEIU as a labor organizer and volunteered with her children’s schools, the Aurora Neighborhood Watch Program, Rights for All People, the American Friends Service Committee, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, the National Domestic Worker’s Association, and We Belong together, as well as founded several organizations like Dreamer’s Mothers in Action-Colorado, Abolish ICE Denver, Denver Metro Sanctuary Coalition, and Sanctuary4All. 

Jeanette has worked tirelessly in Colorado and the nation, seeking to build coalitions at the intersection of different communities and causes. She has inspired many with her courage, intelligence, passion and compassion. Jeanette exemplifies how the brutality of our immigration system unjustly separates families and denies many the ability to live with dignity. Although Jeanette has received support from many of Colorado’s political leaders like Senator Michael Bennet, Congresspeople Diana DeGette and Joe Neguse and many state and local officials, the government continues to target her for speaking the truth about our exclusionary, harmful laws and for insisting on liberation for people of color, the working class, for women and for immigrants.