Thread: Deported immigration activist is toast of Tijuana

http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... &cset=true

From the Los Angeles Times
Deported immigration activist is toast of Tijuana
Elvira Arellano, who had taken sanctuary for a year in a Chicago church, is heralded as a hero in Mexico.
By Richard Marosi

August 22, 2007

TIJUANA -- This city of broken immigrant dreams has rarely seen the likes of Elvira Arellano, the tough-talking deportee from Chicago.

And rarely has Tijuana welcomed a deported immigrant the way it has embraced Arellano this week.

Since Arellano was arrested in Los Angeles and returned to Mexico she's engaged in a whirlwind of public appearances where she's been heralded as a hero for defying U.S. authorities by taking sanctuary in a church.

In the United States, her yearlong battle made her a polarizing figure alternately viewed as an icon of immigrant rights or a selfish lawbreaker.

But in Mexico, Arellano's experience is portrayed as a story of principled resistance, of a woman who fought before becoming one of the thousands of illegal immigrants who file sadly back into this border metropolis every year.

"You've become the voice of all the Elviras in the U.S.," said Heriberto Garcia, of Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights, an independent organization. "The voice of female undocumented immigrants who pursue the dream of working and forming a family."

Arellano's experience struck a chord in a city teeming with deported immigrants.

Callers to talk shows pledged their support. She has been invited to meet with federal lawmakers in Mexico City today.

"Elvira unites Latinos behind her," blared a headline from the Frontera newspaper.

Arellano was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in downtown Los Angeles. The arrest came days after she left the church in Chicago, where she took refuge to avoid being separated from her son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Arellano said she left the church fearing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would soon enter the building to arrest her. She didn't want to go without a fight, so she flew to Los Angeles, she said, to revive the immigration reform movement.

"I made the visit to Los Angeles to put immigration reform back on the table. To lift the spirits of the people. . . . I saw that everything was too quiet," Arellano said on a radio talk show.

She expected to be arrested, Arellano said, but didn't mind sacrificing herself for the cause. "I wanted the people to see me strong, not weak," she said.

Critics in the U.S. questioned her motives.

"It's pretty clear that she wasn't getting the kind of publicity she wanted holed up in that church in Chicago for a year. She needed to goose the issues, so she needed to get back into the media spotlight," said Mark Kirkorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C.

Mexican media were falling over themselves giving her the spotlight, which they believed she richly deserved.

Arellano said she plans to continue her activism in the short term, but won't decide her future plans until going home to Michoacan next week. She said her 8-year-old son, Saul, will stay in the United States, but will visit her regularly.

Arellano first entered the U.S. in 1997; she was caught and deported. A few days later, she reentered the country, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. In 2002, she was arrested and convicted of using a false Social Security number in Chicago.

Last summer an immigration judge ordered Arellano to appear for deportation. Instead, she sought refuge in the church. Sanctuary is an ancient concept but has no standing under U.S. law. Still, authorities refrained from arresting her until she began traveling outside Chicago.

Arellano said that she didn't deserve to be deported, and that she used the fake Social Security number so she could pay taxes and buy a house.

"I didn't harm anyone," she said. "I just wanted to work."

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richard.marosi@latimes.com

Oh yeah, she's the toast of Tijuana! How long before she gets pg again?

Judging from her past, and what she has done to her son, she has no morals whatsoever.

She didn't want to go without a fight, so she flew to Los Angeles, she said, to revive the immigration reform movement.

Someone tell me how she managed to get on a plane!

I didn't harm anyone," she said. "I just wanted to work.

You would of if the person's social security number that you used was actually still alive. You commited fraud you dumb B&*%@, your arrogance knows no bounds.

Thanks Bush you sell out son of a b!@$%, how this woman prances around and stayed away for a year in a church is beyond me. If I was in the position to of had her deported the first day she was in that church I would of had the doors knocked down, and threated the owner with his tax exempt status AFTER I had her a@# in hand cuffs.

It's great that they love her, we should send them 10 million more of their heros.

Originally Posted by JoinTheFight

She didn't want to go without a fight, so she flew to Los Angeles, she said, to revive the immigration reform movement.

Someone tell me how she managed to get on a plane!

they didnt fly, they rode in a vehicle.
least that is what im reading in the stories i have seen

She expected to be arrested, Arellano said, but didn't mind sacrificing herself for the cause. "I wanted the people to see me strong, not weak," she said.

I knew the whole thing was planned.....SO, she DELIBERATELY separated herself from her son. Apparently it wasn't about separation at all....it was about her egomanical drive for notoriety! She was no longer getting any attention in the church, so she had to stir things up to feed her gigantic ego!

Is she going to tell the Mexican Congress, "Please help me get out of this horrible cesspool of a country and go back to the U.S., where I can have many free things!" The congress should be embarrassed to face someone who is trying to ESCAPE their country. What a slap in the face!

Is she going to tell the Mexican Congress, "Please help me get out of this horrible cesspool of a country and go back to the U.S., where I can have many free things!" The congress should be embarrassed to face someone who is trying to ESCAPE their country. What a slap in the face!

"Gofer" ROTFLMAO you are to funny




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