roger that...
Posted on 08/21/2007 4:50:53 PM PDT by mdittmar
TIJUANA, Mexico - An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her American-born son was deported from the United States to Mexico, where she vowed Monday to continue her campaign to change U.S. immigration laws.
Elvira Arellano, 32, became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her sanctuary. She announced last week that she was leaving the Adalberto United Methodist Church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers.
She had just spoken at a Los Angeles rally when she was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church and deported, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist.
"They were in a hurry to deport me because they saw that I was threatening to mobilize and organize the people to fight for legalization," Arellano said in Spanish outside a Tijuana apartment building where she was staying with a friend. "I have a fighting spirit and I'm going to continue fighting."
Arellano, who said she is a single mother, left her 8-year-old son, Saul, in the care of her Chicago pastor's family when she was detained. They were reunited Monday afternoon in Tijuana, but Arellano said her son would be going back to Chicago to live with his godmother, Emma Lozano, and begin third grade in a public school.
"We've all been living together. He knows his mom is OK. He's going to be sad sometimes," said Lozano, who drove him to Tijuana from Los Angeles.
She also said the boy may tour the U.S. to promote migrant rights. The little boy declined to talk to a reporter.
The boy hid behind the pastor's wife and wiped away tears during a news conference in Los Angeles. Mexican authorities did not know the identity or whereabouts of the boy's father, said Luis Cabrera, Mexico's general consul in San Diego.
Opponents of illegal immigration said Arellano's arrest was overdue, and a U.S. immigration official said she had been a criminal fugitive.
Mexican authorities said the deportation highlighted a need to overhaul U.S. immigration laws.
"It's tragic when a mother is separated from her son," Cabrera said.
Arellano asked to speak with Mexican officials in Los Angeles but was denied, Cabrera said. She was not given access until hours later, at San Diego's Otay Mesa immigration detention center.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was unaware of any request that Arellano made to speak with Mexican officials in Los Angeles, and Arellano was given extensive access in San Diego on Sunday night, agency spokeswoman Lauren Mack said.
Arellano was deported at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing around 10 p.m. PDT after U.S. authorities determined that she had exhausted her legal recourse.
"This was a very, very sensitive removal for us as well as Mexico," Mack said.
Arellano said the deportation process was "very quick."
She said she may return to her home in the Mexican state of Michoacan and then return to Tijuana in September for a demonstration coinciding with planned immigration protests in the United States.
Jim Hayes, director of ICE in Los Angeles, said "proper perspective" should be placed on the woman's case. Using a false identity, as in the case of Arellano, who was convicted of using someone else's Social Security number, can be a threat to national security, he said.
"We don't think she's a martyr," Hayes said. "She was a criminal fugitive who is in violation of the law."
Anti-illegal immigrant groups applauded the arrest.
"Just because the woman has gone public and made an issue of the fact that she is defying law doesn't mean the government doesn't have to do its job," said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Arellano arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was soon deported to Mexico, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport.
She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities a year ago but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.
Immigration activists said they will continue Arellano's plan to go to Washington, D.C., and take part in a prayer meeting and rally for immigration reform on Sept. 12. They also called for a national boycott on that date.
The sentiment was echoed outside an ICE office in Chicago on Monday.
"Her voice will not be silenced," activist Jacobita Alonzo told a crowd of about 50 supporters.
Chicago Alderman Ricardo Munoz said after a brief speech that Arellano "puts a face on hundreds of deportations that happen every week."
"Because you're splitting up families every day," he said.
Dear FBI and ICE,
Why was this woman working inside of planes? Flying here in America is dangerous enough. This woman or people like her could smuggle contraband or weapons onto American aircraft. I am not so certain now, there were not planted weapons on the aircraft on 911. With the information of her working on planes, the possibilities are endless. These people are networked. The terrorists and the illegals work together to kill innocent people. If you (the FBI and ICE) cannot see this, America is in do-do up to and over our eyeballs.
Why is a mexico a third world $#!+hole while the US and Canada lead the world? Corruption, ignorance and laziness, just the kind of immigrants that I want here.
BTW elvira, you haven't worked in at least the last year that we know of, probably the last 5? Any chance some of my money has found it's way into your pocket. A good bet I'd say.
Exactly! What prevents her kid from going to Mexico to be with mommy?
Ask any citizen who supports illegal immigration if they strive to get ahead in life. Do they aspire to live in the best neighborhood they can afford? Do they want to avoid living in a poverty stricken area riddled with crime and drugs? Do they want the best education for their children? Ask them to view our nation as a great place to live. Let them know that through massive illegal immigration we are polluting our nation with all the ills they are trying to avoid.
America is as ready as she can be! How about you? All should prepare. Should this situation turn violent, everyone should be ready to defend their family, home, and themselves. This situation could, definitely, put US into a defense posture if the removal of these people turns violent. I advise everyone to prepare.
Yes it is. Especially when you consider that Americans who move to Mexico LEGALLY can NEVER become citizens. Yet they demand that we give citizenship to Mexicans who came here ILLEGALLY.
Thanks for the ping, BQ!
I have a question - I am trying to put together ‘time-lines’ here.....and can’t make it work. Are we SURE that her 8 year old son is an anchor baby? A ‘citizen’? Anybody have the answer?
I saw her and her son surrounded by people yesterday on TV, and she reached down to take his hand. He jerked it behind his back so he wouldn’t have to hold her hand. Something is missing there....
So the jig is up on the fake handicap, she claimed the boy had for years!
I don’t think foreigners can own property or a business either. They definetly cannot protest government policies as this criminal has.
Escorting my wife to a dental clinic across the border in El Paso,was all I needed to know about their country.Shocked is not an adequate form of expression.NO WAY would we ever consider a trip into the heart of their country.I realized why they wanted to move here.But why move here and try to turn this country into the mess you left?It is happening as we speak,but the more they try and force their ‘values’upon us,the more we see how much we do not want it.No way Jose’
I don't have a definitive answer, but I've been wondering the same. I was listening to the radio on the way to work, and a caller was saying the timeline does not make sense because she's only been here 7 1/2 years this time?
I just can't believe that CPS or someone hasn't swooped in on her neglect and emotional abuse. She's clearly unfit to take care of him and now has indeed abandoned him.
Citizenship in our country is not some prize you snatch like a ring on a merry-go-round!!
Or should get awarded because you are the biggest whiner!!
NOT the kind of people we need.
roger that...
Agreed!
"Have fun storming the Castle!"
Any church that shields a criminal suspect from the law should have its clergy arrested and its doors closed. Being a church is not a license to aid and abet criminals and obstruct justice.
What I don’t get is that she is abandoning her son in another country. If I move, I’d take my minor children with me.
Mr. Luis CABRERA Cuarón
Consul General:
It is cruel of Mexico to deny entrance to Saul and to separate him from his mother. It is not his fault that he is a foreign national.
How can Mexico fail to honor the bond between a mother and her child?
Please reconsider this heartless policy that breaks up families.
Sincerely,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.