Activist for Illegal Immigration Deported to Mexico

Elvira Arellano, a Mexican citizen working illegally in the United States was arrested yesterday after speaking to reporters outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church in Los Angeles. Ms. Arellano gained notoriety last year as the woman who found sanctuary from authorities inside a South Chicago church. Arellano has an eight year old son who is a U.S. citizen and had sought to publicize the plight of illegals who have children in the United States. Arellano had decided to travel to Los Angeles before attending a rally and prayer meeting in Washington D.C. to petition the government for immigration reform.

Arellano arrest was based on a deportation order issued by a federal immigration judge back in 1997. During an afternoon press conference Arellano's son Saul hid behind the wife of the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist, the Chicago church that had granted sanctuary to Arellano. Mrs. Coleman is the legal guardian of Arellano's son.

Arellano had entered the U.S. illegally in 1997 when she was apprehended in Washington state and deported back to Mexico. In 2000 she again entered the United States this time to work in Illionois where she was employed cleaning airplanes at O'Hare International Airport. In 2002 Ms. Arellano was arrested at O'Hare for working under a false Social Security number. She was to have appeared before authorities last August when she decided instead to seek sanctuary inside Adalberto United Methodist in Chicago.

Arellano states in this quote from AP, "From the time I took sanctuary the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want," she said in Spanish. "I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight."

Nice. She decides to ignore our laws by sneaking into the country and then fight for her "right" to break our laws by remaining in the country even after a federal judge has ordered her deportation back to her country of origin.

It's hard to know where to begin with this story. The woman definitely has chuztpah (Yiddish for unbelievable gall; insolence; audacity). I can understand the woman's desire to be with her son but she instead uses him as a prop to try and legitimize her illegal activity. If she really wanted to be with her son she can do that by taking him with her to Mexico where she will not have to seek the misguided hospitality of strangers in order to avoid the consequences of breaking the law. Ms. Arellano is mad because the authorities didn't go along with her plan to use her son as an anchor baby. So instead of taking her son with her where she will be able to watch over and care for him she chooses instead to use him as a prop in her bit of political theatre. Ms. Arellano wants to be able to break our immigration laws at will and be able to continue living and working in the United States without consequence.

Ms. Arellano's activities and motivations remind me of another mother who uses her son as a prop and a backdrop for her political mischief. The AP carries the story here and CBS2 in L.A. carries it here.

Arellano's deportation was long overdue.