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Home Front: WoT
Illegal activist deported
2007-08-20
An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born anchor son has been deported to Mexico, the church's pastor said. Elvira Arellano became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her religious sanctuary. She held a news conference last week to announce that she would finally leave the church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for change.
Hmmmm. I thought it was a crime to harbor a criminal.
Churches get a special pass. Sez so in the U.S. penal code.
She had just spoken at rally 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 Church in Chicago, where Arellano had been living. "She has been deported. She is free and in Tijuana," said Coleman, who said he spoke to her on the phone. "She is in good spirits. She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border."
They can all re-unite in Mexico.
A possibility that strangely, no one ever proposes.
Her 8-year-old son, Saul, is now living with Coleman's family. During a news conference in Los Angeles after Arellano's arrest, the boy hid behind the pastor's wife and wiped away tears.

Arellano had said on Saturday that she was not afraid of being taken into custody by immigration agents. "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."
Note that "her country" is still Mexico. She's not an immigrant; she's a Mexican who wants to live in the US.
Arellano, 32, arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly afterward, 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 last August but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.
A repeat offender.
She had not left the church property until she decided to travel by car to Los Angeles, Coleman said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed her Sunday arrest. Spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said the agency would have further details on the deportation later Monday.

Arellano is staying with a friend in Tijuana, Coleman said. He said she had brought to light her struggle, and for that, "she has won a victory."
They always dress up 'defeat' as a 'victory'.
"She'll be organizing on the Mexican side of the border while we're organizing in the (United) States," Coleman said Monday. "She'll be talking to organizations throughout Mexico and congressmen in Mexico City."

Coleman said he and other activists will continue Arellano's original plan to go to Washington, D.C., and take part in a prayer meeting and rally for immigration reform at the Capitol on Sept. 12.

CriminalImmigration activists promised protests and vigils to support Arellano. "We are sad, but at the same time we are angry," said Mexican Rage Boy Javier Rodriguez, a Chicago immigration activist who worked with Arellano. "How dare they arrest this multiple criminal offenderwoman?"

Anti-illegal immigrant groups said the arrest was long overdue. "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, which favors limits on immigration.

Arellano has repeatedly called for a stop to immigration raids that break up families with some members who are in the U.S. legally and others illegally. She has said her son would be deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen if he had to go to Mexico simply because she did.

Emma Lozano, Coleman's wife and head of immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras in Chicago, said she was Saul's legal guardian. "He's taking it better than we thought he would," Lozano said.

While being arrested, Arellano spoke briefly with her son before submitting to authorities, Lozano said. "She calmed him down, hugged him and gave him a blessing," Lozano said.
Posted by:Gary and the Samoyeds

#17  As I recall she was first was ordered deported after her 2nd illegal entry.

Then she went out and conceived the baby.

Draw your own conclusion as to why she had the baby.

Posted by: CrazyFool   2007-08-20 21:13  

#16  get outta my country and take all those that hire illegals with you!
Posted by: Red Dawg   2007-08-20 20:44  

#15  Of course, there's no mention of who the kid's daddy is.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2007-08-20 14:55  

#14  Arellano, 32, arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly afterward, 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 last August but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.

Somehow, these dates do NOT add up to her son (who's said to be 8 years old) being born here in the US. He was born either in 1999 (if he's already had a b'day this year) or 1998 (if he has NOT had a b'day yet this year). Unless, shortly afterwards means 1-2 years in the MSM on her first deportation.
Posted by: BA   2007-08-20 13:47  

#13  "She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border."

As others have said, the only one separating the family is the family. The chutzpah of some people is simply breathtaking.

I was on a newsgroup once with a woman who was in the US legally. She was very contemptuous of America and Americans, but she had a job in the US, and two American children (divorced from their father). When someone offhandedly suggested that if she were deported, she'd either have to leave her children or take them back home with her, she was indignant. Indignant, I say! Well! That tells you how deep this administration's commitment to family values runs!

She was a German literature professor.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2007-08-20 13:24  

#12  Bitch.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2007-08-20 13:02  

#11  She won't be the only one of her kind to do so either.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2007-08-20 13:01  

#10  Just wait, when she gets old enough she'll demand those Social Security benefits that she "earned".
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2007-08-20 13:00  

#9  Squeaky wheel gets the oil....

Should have stayed in the church instead of campaigning.
Posted by: danking70   2007-08-20 12:49  

#8  "She has said her son would be deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen if he had to go to Mexico simply because she did."

Not only did the father not step in to care for his child, I simply can't imagine a loving mother leaving a child behind in another country. This family was separated by their own choices, not US immigration policy.
Posted by: Danielle   2007-08-20 12:31  

#7  The Govmint ought to be handing them a bill for expenses incurred shipping their sorry asses back.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2007-08-20 12:04  

#6  Hasta la bye-bye, Esmeralda.
Posted by: mojo   2007-08-20 11:25  

#5  I got a question. Where's "dad"?
Posted by: tu3031   2007-08-20 10:18  

#4  We should return to the pre-1970s term for "activists"--"agitators".

The dictionary definition of "activist":

noun: a militant reformer

The dictionary definition of "agitator":

noun: a political troublemaker

1960s radicals demanded the change, to conceal and soften their purpose. And after the 1968 Democrat convention, when radicals seized the party, both they and the MSM adopted the convention that "agitators" were now "activists", and "radicals" were now "liberals".

If you look at the left, it is still easy to distinguish who are the agitators and who are the activists, and who are the radicals and who are the liberals.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-08-20 10:02  

#3  deported once. Snuck back in. Identity theft of SSN (and what else?). Had an anchor baby. Ordered deported again. Violated that order and became a loud mouthed asshole high profile "victim of the system" while abusing a church as "sanctuary". Went on a highly publicized rant/PR trip to overturn OUR country's policies on illegals.

Doing the jobs Americans won't do. Deporting was too good if she didn't have a cluestick applied hard enough. Bitch'll be back. Next time - prison time
Posted by: Frank G   2007-08-20 10:01  

#2  I heard this idiot "Rev." Walter Coleman on local (Chicago) TV this morning. Nothing more than a leftist twit masquerading as a pastor. Newsman asked him how he would respond to those who say she should go through the process for legal residency. His answer was to spout unrelated nonsense until interrupted by time constraints.
Posted by: Spot   2007-08-20 09:40  

#1  Don't let the door hit you on the butt.

And good riddance. You are a prime example of everything wrong with letting illegals over run our country. You want to work legally, fine. You want to immigrate, fine. You want to work but get the free goodies and still maintain a primary loyalty to the old country and make the natives bow to your will and beliefs? Fuck off and die.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-08-20 09:30  

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