DU’s Tanika Vigil Uses the Law to Fight for Immigrants’ Lives

Tanika Vigil, a professor in the political science department at the University of Denver and a seasoned immigration attorney, has dedicated her career to supporting newcomers to the United States.

“The arbitrariness of my privilege, of my US citizenship, is something that I have taken with me throughout my life,” Vigil said. Vigil’s connection to immigration is deeply personal. Her father’s family was originally from the Purgatory River Valley area in Southern Colorado, near Trinidad, and her great-grandfather had immigrated from Lebanon. 

Her ancestors lived on that land, alongside Spanish settlers and Indigenous communities, long before it became part of the United States. “After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the border shifted and what had been considered a part of Mexico at the time was now ‘north of the border,’” Vigil said. “My ancestors found themselves in a different nation-state all of a sudden, and grappled with what it meant to stay on that land—to be citizens of a new country.”

Vigil’s passion for immigration stems from this family history. After college, Vigil interned with an immigration attorney in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado, where she witnessed the impact of legal advocacy on immigrant communities firsthand. This experience led Vigil to Harvard Law School, where she studied all types of law and worked in the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, representing survivors of domestic violence in their families.

“A lot of those women were immigrants, so it was a really powerful intersection,” Vigil said. “I got exposure to family law, and then I pursued some immigration-related internships as well. But after three years, I realized that it was most meaningful, most rewarding, to work one-on-one with individuals and with families, and that’s why I decided to go full-time into immigration law.” 

Today, Vigil balances multiple roles within her community. She is a professor at DU and a consulting attorney at the Immigration Law and Policy Clinic at the Sturm College of Law. Vigil helps to support law students who are representing immigrants being held at the Aurora ICE facilities.  

Vigil described a case in which her client lost his green card after being in the country for 20 years and was eventually deported, leaving his family and seven children behind.

“It was a complex case—but to bear witness to the tearing apart of his family, I think that’s another piece that’s important for us to account for in terms of the interconnectedness,” Vigil said. “When we deport one person, there are ripple effects in their communities, their children, their family and their socioeconomic security. I’ve just seen a number of cases where those ripple effects are incredibly tangible, and I feel like the current narrative misses all those spillover effects.”

Anahi Quezada-Villa, a student attorney at the Immigration Law and Policy Clinic, collaborates with Vigil on various cases, particularly those involving “crimmigration,” which is the intersection of criminal and immigration law. According to Quezada-Villa, crimmigration refers to criminal offenses that are specific to immigration law and can result in deportation or inadmissibility in the US.

“I think Tanika is one of the greatest crimmigration experts that I’ve met,” Quezada-Villa said. “We have a very difficult kind of theory of immigration law called the categorical approach. It’s a way that we analyze criminal legal context in immigration. And I think Tanika is one of the individuals who is very, very educated on that. She’s someone who really guides me. She’s just a great mentor. She’s very educated in immigration law, and I think as a supervisor she isn’t someone who tells you what to do. She gives you options, and she helps you choose the best one, and gives you the leeway to make your best choice as an advocate.”

One of the most common misconceptions about immigration, according to Vigil, is that there is a simple path to legal status.

“For most folks in the country, based on our current set of immigration laws, there is no line for them to get into,” Vigil said. “It’s not a question of they haven’t filed the right paperwork yet. It’s a question that there is no paperwork for them to file based on the current set of laws.”

Vigil stressed the importance of providing clear and accurate information to both the immigrant community and their advocates. She acknowledged the widespread fear of deportation and explained how she and her colleagues are working to make clear, accurate information more accessible.

“I do think it’s important in this current climate that any individual who fears potential arrest or removal from this country has access to basic Know Your Rights information,” Vigil said. “That would be one example of legal information. It’s not a case; it’s not advice to a particular individual, but it’s ensuring that people get to benefit from the constitutional parameters that apply regardless of status.”

Following increased ICE initiatives and raids, the Colorado ICE hotline has experienced a surge in activity reports. Dispatchers are receiving more calls from anxious citizens, struggling with uncertainty surrounding their status under the new administration. Vigil emphasized the importance of local action in addressing immigration issues, as well as providing a solid foundation of support to those who may be struggling with their status.

“If we turn only to the national narrative and rhetoric, I think that fear can be all-encompassing and overwhelming,” Vigil said. “But if we turn locally, there are many entities, institutions, actors, neighbors, trusted friends who would answer that phone call and offer what they could for support. So stay local as much as possible in terms of resourcing yourself in a time of emergency.”

The current political climate surrounding immigration is fraught with challenges, Vigil acknowledged. “It’s a scary time,” Vigil said.“I think it’s important that we are honest about how scary it is for immigrant communities.” But, despite the fear and uncertainty, she remains hopeful.

“The law is not giving us answers right now, but the people demand answers,” Vigil said. “The people are what change the laws, so my hope is that in this moment it’s going to be a mirror for all of us—a catalyst to have a more robust and informed conversation about how important the immigrant community is to all of us.”