Aug 21, 2007 1:33 pm US/Pacific
Deported Illegal Immigrant, Activist Sparks Rally
Activists Hold Vigil At Federal Building In Downtown L.A.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
A Mexican woman who became a lightning rod for pro-immigration activists when she sought sanctuary in a Chicago church was arrested in Los Angeles and deported because she was a fugitive, the head of the local immigration enforcement office said Monday.
"ICE has a sworn duty to ensure that our nation's immigration laws are applied fairly and without regard for a person's ability to generate public support," said Jim Hayes, director of the Los Angeles office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Elvira Arellano, 32, was taken into custody by ICE agents near La Placita Church in downtown Los Angeles around 2:15 p.m. Sunday.
"Arellano was processed at ICE's staging facility in Santa Ana, and was transported ... to the border crossing at San Ysidro, where she was turned over to Mexican immigration officials late yesterday," ICE announced in a statement Monday morning.
"Arellano was taken into custody without incident based upon an order for removal originally issued in 1997," the ICE statement said.
Arellano and her son Saul, 8, who is a U.S. citizen, were in Los Angeles to press for changes in immigration laws and were staying at La Placita Church. She has been struggling to avoid deportation to avoid being separated from her son -- saying immigration raids unfairly break up families that have a mix of legal and illegal residents.
Hayes said federal officials don't consider Arellano a martyr for the cause of immigration rights. He insisted she was simply the subject of a deportation order who was living and working in the country illegally.
"She illegally returned to the United States, a felony under federal law, which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison," Hayes said. "In 2002, ICE agents arrested Miss Arellano at Chicago's O'Hare airport, where she was working illegally for a janitorial business whose employees had access to secure areas of the airport."
After Arellano's arrest, "she was transported there (to San Ysidro) without permission or consent of herself or the Mexican consulate, which wanted to intervene or talk to her," immigration activist Carlos Montes said.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Arellano's arrest and deportation are indicative of "Washington's failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform."
"Until we resolve the status of the estimated 12 million undocumented people living and working in the United States by giving them some meaningful pathway to citizenship, families will continue to be torn apart," Villaraigosa said. "As mayor of a city that is over 40 percent foreign-born, I can tell you, when families are torn apart, our communities are torn apart."
Arellano's supporters held a candlelight vigil Sunday night outside the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center to call for her release.
Pro-immigration activists held another vigil Monday night at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, Montes said. They are also planning a march in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15, and have issued a call for a national day of boycott on Sept. 12 -- urging immigrants to avoid work and school.
"We are appalled and disappointed (by) the behavior of our federal authorities who arrested and deported immigrant rights activist Arellano," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of Latino Movement USA.
Gutierrez said the actions of federal officials send a message that "there will be no mercy toward undocumented workers."
"The question remains, how can our government justify this cruel behavior towards hardworking, taxpaying undocumented workers?" he asked.
Gutierrez said immigration activists will hold a march and rally on Oct. 12 in Los Angeles, calling for "full rights for immigrants."
Arellano visited three area churches Sunday to call for amnesty for illegal immigrants, but was arrested before she could go to a fourth.
Arellano defied an order to report to the Department of Homeland Security on Aug. 15, 2006, to be deported. Instead, she took refuge in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago, which became a center for the New Sanctuary Movement, which is recruiting churches around the country to harbor illegal immigrants.
According to the New Sanctuary Movement, at least 600,000 families in the United States have at least one member facing deportation because they are not legal residents.
Delgado said they are asking all sanctuary churches in the country to "stand in solidarity" and start a "mobilization tomorrow to urge Congress to fix the broken immigration system."
She said 25 churches in California are providing sanctuary for eight families.
Arellano has said she sought to remain in this country so her son, who was born in the United States, can get better medical care for his attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
She told reporters she came to the United States because the North American Free Trade Agreement hurt the Mexican economy, making it harder for her to find a job there.
Arellano first came to the United States in 1997 and was deported to Mexico shortly afterward.
She returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
She was arrested in 2002 and later convicted of working under a false Social Security number.
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