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Immigrant activist arrives in L.A.
By Antonio Olivo

Tribune staff reporter

2:10 PM CDT, August 18, 2007

Elvira Arellano, the illegal Mexican immigrant who avoided deportation for a year by taking refuge in a Humboldt Park Church, arrived in Los Angeles today and is expected to address a march for immigrant rights later this afternoon.

Arellano, her eyes puffy from a lack of sleep, arrived in Los Angeles this morning and went to the Our Lady Queen of Angels Church.

Her son Saul, who traveled separately, joined her in Los Angeles today.

Arellano slipped out of Adalberto United Methodist Church on the Northwest Side on Thursday night, a day after announcing she would travel to Washington, D.C. for a prayer vigil and fast on the National Mall. Arellano's trip to Los Angeles marks the first time in a year she has ventured outside the Humboldt Park church, her friends and supporters say.

Arellano said she felt compelled to leave her sanctuary church in Chicago because she had become frustrated "with my arms crossed" while other families like hers were impacted by raids and immigration crackdowns.

"We can't just stay there quiet while seeing how all of this is affecting our families," she said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "We cannot wait until after the elections," to again pick up immigration reform.