Community Vigil Demands Freedom for Jeanette Vizguerra and All Political Prisoners
April 28th, 2025 – Last night, outside the GEO ICE Processing Center in Aurora, Colorado, community members gathered in a powerful weekly vigil organized by the Denver Justice Project, the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee, and Aurora Unidos. We came together to demand freedom for Jeanette Vizguerra — a long-time immigrant rights leader and outspoken advocate for justice — and to call for the release of all political prisoners targeted by the Trump administration in retaliation for their activism.
Jeanette Vizguerra is no stranger to struggle. For decades, she has defended the rights of immigrants and workers across Colorado. Her arrest is not simply an individual case — it’s part of a broader pattern of retaliation and repression against those who dare to challenge the systems of injustice embedded in our immigration and criminal legal systems. Jeanette would not be silent if this had happened to one of us, and so we refuse to be silent while she is held behind bars.
The criminalization of immigration and the expansion of mass incarceration are two sides of the same coin. Both rely on policing, punishment, and the dehumanization of Black and Brown communities to maintain control and profit. Nowhere is this clearer than in the private prison industry — like GEO Group — which profits from human suffering under contracts with the federal government. Facilities like the Aurora ICE Processing Center do not make us safer. They are tools of racialized violence and systemic oppression.
ICE is an immoral agency that exists solely to terrorize undocumented and documented communities. The collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE only increases fear and instability in our neighborhoods. It undermines trust, separates families, and strips people of their dignity and rights. No human being is illegal. Migration is not a crime — but caging people for profit is.
We will not stop organizing until Jeanette Vizguerra is free, until all immigrants are free, and until institutions like ICE and GEO are dismantled. Join us every week as we keep the pressure on. Solidarity means showing up — and we will keep showing up until justice is served.
