Mexican immigration advocate Jeanette Vizguerra (pictured above) earned a spot as one of 2017's most influential people after resisting deportation during President Donald Trump's first administration. And her recent detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is causing a stir among Colorado politicians and activists.

Vizguerra is only the latest high-profile arrest to come out of Trump's immigration crackdown. Last week, a Brown University professor was deported after Homeland Security officials alleged she attended the funeral of a Hezbollah leader. Earlier this month, Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident who led campus protests at Columbia University against Israel's actions in Gaza, was detained by immigration agents. 

'Bold and risky' history of advocacy
In 1997, Vizguerra fled from Mexico with her husband, according to a 2011 documentary about their ordeal. She drew national attention in 2017 when she sought refuge in a Colorado church basement with her children, "hoping that the sanctuary of a house of worship would protect her" from the president's deportation plans during his first administration, said The New York Times. Her act of resistance landed her a spot on the TIME100 list.

Before she began hiding, Vizguerra was a janitor, working as an "outspoken union organizer" and "building her own company before becoming an advocate for immigration reform — a bold and risky thing for an undocumented immigrant," actor America Ferrera said in her TIME100 profile. Vizguerra continued to be a vocal advocate against deportation in Colorado both during and after taking refuge in the church. 

'Putin-style persecution'
Vizguerra was arrested by immigration agents on Monday while working at Target, said Jordan Garcia of the American Friends Service Committee. The news was "greeted with glee by those supporting Trump's harsh crackdown," said CNN. "Finally!" John Fabbricatore, a former ICE field director, said on X. 

Her detention "stirred a backlash from Colorado Democratic politicians and immigrant-rights supporters" who "accused the Trump administration of trying to silence critics of its immigration crackdown," said the Times. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston condemned her arrest as a "Putin-style persecution of political dissidents." This is a case of "targeting political opponents and using the force of your government to punish them."

The food preparation decisions that go into the production of deep-fried potatoes at McDonald's have become a source of fresh controversy in the U.S. Armed with a questionable theory about the nefarious effects of seed oils on human health, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently praised the fast food chain Steak 'n Shake for deciding to cook fries in beef tallow. But why did food chains move away from beef tallow (rendered cow fat) to other oils in the first place?

Why did it fall out of use?
In July 1990, McDonald's announced it would "start cooking their french fries and hash brown potatoes in 100% vegetable oil" and stop using a "blend of vegetable oil and beef tallow," said The New York Times. That blend had given the fries a "perfect crunchy exterior, pillowy interior, and a rich and distinctive flavor," said Chowhound. Moving away from that recipe would diminish the taste, but it was a "time of real hysteria about saturated fat," and many thought fast food would be "doomed unless it donned the cloak of good nutrition," said Malcolm Gladwell at The Ringer. 

In the 1980s, "nearly a million Americans a year" were "dropping dead from heart attacks," and one of the culprits was thought to be high-fat diets, said Time. In 1980, the Department of Agriculture issued new guidelines that "urged us to cut back on fat, especially the saturated kind found mainly in animal foods such as red meat, butter and cheese," said The Wall Street Journal. The resulting "low-fat craze changed the way Americans eat," said Frontline. 

How was the debate resurrected?
Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement have targeted vegetable and seed oils as partially responsible for all manner of American health woes, including obesity and anxiety. He and his allies have argued that a "nefarious elite, including Big Pharma, the FDA and food manufacturers," have pushed seed oils on an unsuspecting public, said The Atlantic. Kennedy visited a Steak 'n Shake location in Florida last week as part of a segment on Fox News on the chain's switch to beef tallow. But ultimately, switching the "type of frying oil won't make this calorie- and cholesterol-rich food healthy," said NPR.