Make me 'peace' envoy to U.S., Elvira begs Mexican prez

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BY NANCY DILLON and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Thursday, August 30th 2007, 4:00

A Mexican mother whose deportation and separation from her American-born son highlighted the cruelty of U.S. immigration policy wants to be allowed back into the country as a "peace ambassador."

Elvira Arellano, 32, has asked Mexican President Felipe Calderon to appoint her to the special post, enabling her to be reunited with her 8-year-old son Saul.

"What I'm asking for is a diplomatic visa so that I can be an ambassador for peace and justice because I'm not a terrorist and the United States can't continue treating undocumented migrants as terrorists," Arellano said yesterday.

Calderon asked his foreign secretary to "look into the situation" and approach U.S. authorities on Arellano's behalf.

Her son told the Daily News that he misses his mother terribly. "I'm proud of her," said Saul, who is living with a legal guardian in Chicago. "She might be able to help other families."

Saul said he was looking forward to visiting his mother in Tijuana, Mexico, tomorrow. "It's hard that I can't be with her," he said. "I need to tell her I'm okay."

Arellano, who had lived in the U.S. for years as an undocumented worker, became a cause célèbre this month when she was booted from the country.

She and her son were granted sanctuary in Chicago's Adalberto United Methodist Church for a year to avoid deportation. But immigration agents nabbed her when she left the church Aug. 19 to speak at an immigration-reform rally in Los Angeles.

Supporters of Arellano have portrayed U.S. immigration officials as cold-hearted for telling her she could take her son back to Mexico with her.

She was arrested in a post-9/11 security sweep in 2002 and later convicted of using a bogus Social Security number to land a janitorial job at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

ndillon@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_repo ... gs_me.html