Jeanette Vizguerra Ready For More Permanent Solution As She Leaves Sanctuary

DENVER (CBS4) - Inside the church she's been in for nearly three years, Jeanette Vizguerra was serving cake to many people who have helped her as she fought her deportation. On Wednesday, she said it was a celebration of liberty.

She and two others are back with their families after being told they won't be deported.

"I'm happy, but at the same time it's nothing permanent. I need to continue to fight for something permanent," Vizguerra said.

Earlier this month, Vizguerra and four other people seeking sanctuary in Colorado churches to avoid being deported were given a stay by the Biden administration. The Department of Homeland Security alerted them they'd have one year free from the threat of arrest.

On Wednesday, Vizguerra said she's going to concentrate her energy on her own case and getting the congressional members to keep working on a pathway to citizenship.

"In January, I need everybody pushing for one solution for immigration reform," she said. "It's time. It's time put something for the immigrant people in line during this pandemic."

Sandra Lopez, who had sought sanctuary at a church in Carbondale said she's also excited to go home and be with family and not have a threat of deportation over her.

"It was also a huge sacrifice and very difficult to live in sanctuary. When you first step foot into sanctuary as an immigrant, you don't see your end of time there. You don't know how long it will be and it causes a lot of stress," she said through an interpreter. "I want to live each of these days with the peace that I know comes from this one year. I want to enjoy every moment of just living every day as it comes for this one year."