
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Mexican woman whose fight against deportation from the United States became a cause celebre for pro-immigration activists was deported without her son, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Monday.Mexican citizen Elvira Arellano, 32, had claimed sanctuary in a Chicago church for a year with her 8-year-old U.S.-born son before being arrested and deported in Los Angeles on Sunday. According to ICE officials, after being arrested in downtown Los Angeles, Arellano, was taken to the border crossing at San Ysidro, Calif., where she was turned over to Mexican immigration officials.The agency said that Arellano’s son, who is a U.S. citizen, was left with her traveling companions, at her request.
Funny thing about this story is it does not mention that she has been deported before and illegally crossed back over the border or that she was convicted of Social Security fraud and skipped her deportation hearing for committing a crime, thus becoming a fugitive from the law. Also not mentioned by the main stream media is why she is claiming sanctuary in the U.S. without the fear of persecution if she returns to Mexico. That is usually how it works.
One of her implausible quotes:
“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.”
Now the operative phrase here is “my country, Mexico.” Also she is either making her statements in uncomprehendable English or speaking Spanish.
I am at a complete loss for what the meaning of this statement is from a protester at a rally for Elvira:
“Her voice will not be silenced,” said Lilia Paredes. “She will, from Mexico, from that border, give and continue to fight for the just cause of the Latinos.”
Does this mean she is going to petition the Mexican government for the just cause of Latinos? Does it mean she is going to continue her advocacy of breaking U.S. laws while in Mexico? I thought that was the Mexican government’s job. Is she going to hole up in the U.S. Embassy claiming sanctuary while in Mexico?
She has a full plate now that she is back where she belongs, in Mexico.Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago and unindicted for harboring a criminal and obstructing justice, where Arellano has been holed up had these statements:
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.”
“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.”
This is about as inane as what has been oozing out of Elvira’s mouth. Stating that she had “won a victory” is akin to the Japanese threatening to bring the U.S. to it’s knees the day after Little Boy and Fat Man kissed the ground in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And what are the congressmen in Mexico City going to do for her?
If Elvira had spent as much effort to learn English and taken the proper channels to gain legal entry into the U.S. as she put into sneaking around and breaking laws theses past 10 years, she could be cleaning planes with a legitimate Social Security number as we speak.