'I'm a Political Prisoner': From Church Sanctuaries to ICE Detention

Latino USA

Futuro Media and PRX

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“I am a political prisoner,” Jeanette Vizguerra said in an exclusive interview from inside a detention facility. She’s been a symbol of resistance for the immigrants rights movement since 2017 when she was recognized as one of Time’s 100 most influential people, after seeking sanctuary in a church to avoid deportation.

She remained an outspoken activist and in March 2025 she was detained by ICE.

In this episode we also hear from others who took sanctuary years ago, but unlike Jeanette, want to remain in the shadows fearing retaliation. What is sanctuary now that churches are no longer protected?

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	When I founded Futuro, I imagined a home for journalism with radical transparency.
0:06.5	I wanted a newsroom where I wasn't the only Latina behind the mic.
0:12.1	Now Futuro is becoming a home for more voices than ever.
0:17.9	Help grow this future by joining our new membership program. You'll get exclusive interviews,
0:24.2	whole season binges. Behind the scenes, Chiseme, shape the future of storytelling. Join Futuro
0:32.0	Plus. Visit our website, Futuromediagroup.org slash join plus.
0:38.6	And not you buy yes.
0:44.4	Futuro.
0:52.5	One summer afternoon in 2017, Madi was driving down the main highway into her small town.
0:59.0	And that's all we're going to tell you about where she lives, because we're trying to protect her.
1:04.0	I was looking at the mountains, the landscape.
1:08.0	Even after living in this small town for 30 years,
1:11.6	she still admired the views.
1:13.9	Just that sense of physical freedom,
1:16.8	being able to see all this beauty.
1:19.3	She'd made the drive hundreds of times
1:21.4	to attend her local church
1:22.8	or to sell her well-known homemade tamales.
1:26.6	But this time, the drive felt different.
1:31.2	I was afraid. I was really, really afraid.
1:34.8	What if they were following me?
1:36.9	I got just into the Hispanic mode.
	...

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