Arellano on move -- but to where?
SANCTUARY | Illegal immigrant going to L.A. rally -- or in Omaha

August 18, 2007
BY NORMAN PARISH Staff Reporter/nparish@suntimes.com
After a year of seeking refuge in a Humboldt Park church, Elvira Arellano has left her sanctuary and is apparently headed for California.

The illegal immigrant and activist is planning to attend a march and rally in Los Angeles today with her 8-year-old son, one close adviser said.

The illegal immigrant and activist is planning to attend a march and rally in Los Angeles today with her 8-year-old son, one close adviser said.

"She will be here to speak," said Emma Lozano, a longtime Chicago activist reached in L.A. "She's going to be holding a news conference and answer questions and talk about the issues."

» Click to enlarge image

Elvira Arellano speaks to reporters Tuesday at Adalberto United Methodist Church, where she took refuge a year ago.
(AP)
"She will be here to speak," said Emma Lozano, a longtime Chicago activist reached in L.A. "She's going to be holding a news conference and answer questions and talk about the issues."Now that Arellano, 32, has left the church where she has spent the last year, it remains to be seen whether federal agents will arrest her, deport her or ignore her.

But the Mexican immigrant plans to continue her quest for reform of immigration laws and an end to raids on illegal immigrants and deportations. To dramatize the pain of family separations, she is expected to appear with her 8-year-old son, Saul, a U.S. citizen.
"Elvira is on a mission to bring the news that this issue is not dead," Lozano said. "We need to mobilize and make sure this issue is not just empty campaign promises."

There was some uncertainty about Arellano's whereabouts. Late Friday, Lozano said Arellano left Adalberto United Methodist Church, 2716 W. Division, either Thursday or early Friday and was in Los Angeles.

But another associate said Arellano was in Omaha, Neb., on Thursday and would not be in L.A. for today's march.

The friend, who did not want to be identified, said the Mexican immigrant was planning other trips to "revive the movement, energize the effort to reform immigration."

"We do not expect [Arellano] in Los Angeles -- certainly not in the march," the friend said.
On Wednesday, the anniversary of when she first took refuge, Arellano said she planned to put her fate in God's hands and leave the church -- even if it meant deportation. Then she'd said she would leave for Washington on Sept. 12 to lobby for immigration reform at an eight-hour prayer vigil.

Arellano was deported from the United States in 1997 for entering with bogus papers. Another deportation order was issued in 2002, when she was found working at O'Hare Airport under a false Social Security number.


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Why is ICE allowing this convicted felon to leisurely roam the US. They should have staked out that shack masquerading as a church and nabbed her when she stepped out the door. She's basically telling the US to go to hell and that she's running things from here on, while using her anchor baby pawn as a shield.

At what point does this insanity end?