Thread: Elvira Arellano: Angered at Mexico

Elvira: shut the hell up already!

You are a two-time+ criminal, you have no "right" to be here, and I am tired of hearing about you and your desire to colonize my country.
Go home, and deal with your problems there!

She's changed her tune a bit, this is from August 20th: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... b05_layout

TIJUANA, Mexico - Newly deported immigration activist Elvira Arellano, joined Monday evening by her 8-year-old son, vowed to continue her fight for immigration reform but acknowledged that she has little chance of ever returning to the United States.

Sitting in a Chinese restaurant in this bustling border town less than a day after her deportation by U.S. authorities, Arellano expressed no regrets at leaving her sanctuary at a Chicago church, saying she would rather have been arrested fighting for immigrants' rights than remain in refuge.

"If my deportation has united the people, for me it's good," she said. "That price had to be paid. If that's the way it happened, I'm satisfied."

Immigrant activists in Los Angeles, where Arellano was seized Sunday afternoon, said a march is planned for this weekend to protest her deportation. Pro-enforcement advocates, meanwhile, praised the arrest.

Arellano, however, was focused Monday evening on the agonizing question of whether her son, Saul, would stay with her in Mexico or return to Chicago, where he has lived most of his life. Family friend Rev. Walter "Slim" Coleman said late Monday he expects the boy will return to Chicago for school. Earlier, Arellano had said she hoped he would stay with her, but would take Saul's wishes into account.

"I will continue to tell him about the beauties of my country," she said. "He will know that he will have a marvelous future here."

A 32-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico, Arellano said she left Chicago because she feared authorities were preparing to arrest her at Adalberto United Methodist Church in Humboldt Park, where she had taken refuge last August to avoid deportation.

"Their messages about me were getting stronger and stronger. I couldn't just stay there quiet," she said. "I did what I had to do: fight. They arrested me but they arrested me fighting, not quiet, not hiding in fear."

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Monday it was her decision to leave the church that prompted the arrest. They chose to detain her on a Los Angeles street rather than in the Chicago church, a spokesman said, because they believed it would be safer for the arresting officers, as well as Arellano, her companions and the public.

"We had reason to believe that there was going to be a lot of people in there, in the church, there to protect her or do whatever," said Glenn Triveline, the Chicago field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, at a news conference Monday.

Coleman, pastor at the Adalberto United Methodist Church, said U.S. authorities were less concerned about safety than avoiding the potential embarrassment of raiding a church.

"Nobody would do anything to them," said Coleman. "I think they obviously didn't want the embarrassment of breaking into a church and separating a mother from her son in front of the cross."

Arellano was taken into custody Sunday afternoon as she, Saul, and several supporters were leaving a downtown L.A. church on their way San Jose, Calif., where she was to continue giving speeches about the need for immigration reform and visiting sanctuary congregations.

Arellano recounted how she tried to plead her case with U.S. immigration officials one more time after her arrest, pointing out that private bills had been introduced by U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Luis Gutierrez, both Chicago Democrats, aimed at keeping her in the United States.

The officials refused to discuss the matter, she said.

"They were angry with me for everything I have done," she said. "They were in rush to deport me."

Arellano was detained for nearly nine hours and questioned by U.S. and Mexican officials before she was taken across the border to Tijuana near midnight.

Arellano's case reverberated in Mexico, where she spent much of Monday doing interviews with local television, radio and newspaper reporters. Two major Mexico City newspapers, Reforma and El Universal, played the news of her arrest as a top international story. Reforma described Arellano as "a mother who was the symbol of immigrants."

In a sign of the political overtones surrounding her case and the sensitivity of immigration issues in Mexico, the Mexican Foreign Relations Ministry released a statement criticizing the "swiftness" of her deportation.

Michael Keegan, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Enforcement in Washington, said U.S. law prohibits an immigrant from entering the U.S. legally for 10 years if they have previously been deported. Still, a U.S. consular official could override the law and allow Arellano legal entry into the U.S. if she can present mitigating circumstances. The final decision rests with the U.S. State Department, Keegan said.

As a U.S. citizen, Arellano's son also could petition to have his mother re-admitted to the U.S., but only after he turns 18.

But Arellano said Monday that she has no intention of trying to return either legally or illegally to the United States. She has already received a job offer in Mexico.

"I am in my country. I can walk through the streets free, without fear," she said.

aolivo@tribune.com

mcgarcia@tribune.com

Espinosa did not say whether Mexico planned to give Arellano the diplomatic post, but said officials were trying to determine if there was any way she could could go back to Chicago.
Arellano's U.S.-born 8-year-old son, Saul, is a U.S. citizen. He flew to Mexico on Friday to be reunited with his mother, and plans to stay here indefinitely, although he was expected to return briefly to the United States this month to participate in an immigrant-rights march.

huh?? Mother and child are united in Mexico, why does the Mexican Government want her in Chicago?

"I am in my country. I can walk through the streets free, without fear," she said.

Exactly so why doesn't she shut up and stop trying to think of reasons to come back to the US? She should have been banned forever from re-entry after the stunts she pulled.

Like I've said before, Elvira should have went directly to prison! I bet a few years behind bars would have humbled her.

Her Son can ask that she be admitted to the US but since she is an American criminal she should not be admitted. Criminals are not suppose to be allowed to enter our country.

If she does come back the authorities should be waiting for her with "bracelets" and a police escort to serve the 20 years in prison she owes!

"I am in my country. I can walk through the streets free, without fear," she said.

Good. Now tell all your illegal countrymen living illegally in the United States. Maybe that will convince them to go home where they can walk the streets free and without fear as well.

Under normal circumstaces, I would be laughing hysterically...this is such great fodder for Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live....but we are definitely living in the twilight zone! Do ya suppose???? No....it couldn't happen...or could it????

Originally Posted by MW

Like I've said before, Elvira should have went directly to prison! I bet a few years behind bars would have humbled her.

Agreed MW. But then we have to pay for it. That is the only thing I don't like about it.