As security guards at the Aurora U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility slid an iron gate to let buses and employees into a parking lot Tuesday, immigration attorneys filed motions to find relief for a high profile immigration activist detained inside.

Jeanette Vizguerra, who faces a deportation order from the court, was apprehended by ICE agents as she took a break from her job at a Target store, according to her daughter Luna Baez.

Vizguerra called Baez from the ICE processing center to let her know that she had been detained.

“She sounded a little scared” said Baez, 21.

Vizguerra, who faced two misdemeanor charges for falsifying documents and entering the country illegally, took refuge in a church for three years to avoid deportation and created a network of “sanctuary” churches. 

An impromptu rally materialized Tuesday morning at the Aurora ICE facility, as several of Vizguerra’s children gathered outside. Her daughter said they will stay there “as long as it takes.”

American Friends Services Committee said in a news release that family members heard from Vizguerra shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday and confirmed she is still at the Aurora facility.

Protesters standing outside of the facility on Oakdale Road wept early Tuesday morning as Greyhound buses entered the ICE parking lot to take inmates to the airport for deportation.

They were told that Vizguerra was on the bus, but the information was incorrect.

At last check, Vizguerra was still inside being processed, according to Baez, who is in direct contact with her mother’s attorney, Laura Lichter of the firm Lichter Immigration.

“We don’t know what’s happening. We plan on staying here until we do,” she said.

Luna and Zuri Baez said they gathered their mother’s friends and supporters outside of the ICE processing center on Tuesday evening to make enough noise that she could hear them inside. 

Lichter said that ICE acted without a valid deportation order and, as a result, filed a habeas corpus motion with the district court Tuesday. 

Habeus corpus is a legal order requiring authorities to bring a prisoner before a court to determine if their detention is lawful.

Vizguerra was pulled over for a traffic violation in 2009 and was convicted for falsifying documents tied to the traffic ticket and for entering the country illegally, both misdemeanor offenses. She was put under a deportation order and appealed it, but a judge denied it.

In 2017, during President Donald Trump’s first term, a sixth stay of removal was denied. To avoid deportation, she spent three years living in the basement of the First Unitarian Church in Denver. It was a “sanctuary” space considered off limits for federal agents to enter without a warrant.

She became an immigration advocate and formed the Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition, a network of churches providing protection to immigrants fearing deportation.

In 2017, she was named one of 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

“She’s been very public in the last three months, and we have talked to her about the risks associated with that,” said Luna Baez, her oldest daughter. 

Many of the protesters who gathered holding signs with Vizguerra’s photo have known her for years, they said. 

“She’s been poking the bear,” said Karen Derrick-Davis, who believes Vizguerra was targeted for her advocacy. 

Supporters said that her case is similar to that of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was raised in Syria and is of Palestinian descent. The former Columbia University student was a leader during pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year. He became a key negotiator between the university and protestors.

Three months after earning his master’s degree in December, he was detained by ICE agents following through on Trump’s Jan. 30 directive to crack down on antisemitism. Khalil, who has a green card, is currently detained in an ICE detention center in Jena, Louisiana.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in a White House fact sheet.

The president also promised to quickly cancel the student visas of all “Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

This month, Columbia University expelled or suspended some students who took over a campus building during the pro-Palestinian protests last spring and temporarily revoked the diplomas of others who have since graduated.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston defended Vizguerra and criticized the Trump administration.   

“This is not immigration enforcement intended to keep our country safe,” the mayor said in a news release. “This is Putin-style persecution of political dissidents. Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother of U.S. citizens. She works at Target. She’s the founder of a local nonprofit.”

In a statement, Gov. Jared Polis said he knows Vizguerra “as a mother and grandmother,” who has no history of violence. He urged the Trump administration and ICE to “focus their actions on violent offenders and be more transparent with states they are operating in, including being transparent about the cost and impact of detentions, raids, and the cost to taxpayers.”

“The state has not seen any transparent accounting of ICE operations in our state and has not been notified beyond press reports of the apprehension of Ms. Vizguerra,” Polis said.

When asked for comment, an ICE spokesman said that there would be a response shortly. 

The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9NEWS contributed to this report.