Los Angeles: Immigration activist Arellano arrested
Immigration activist Arellano arrested
By Antonio Olivo
Tribune staff reporter
5:52 PM CDT, August 19, 2007
LOS ANGELES—An immigration activist who sought refuge inside a Chicago church for a year was arrested in Los Angeles this afternoon after taking her campaign on the road.
Elvira Arellano was arrested about 4:15 p.m. Chicago time by law-enforcement officials after leaving Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in downtown Los Angeles, said Emma Lozano, an adviser who was there during the arrest.
After talking to news media inside the church, Arellano and her supporters got into their van to head north to San Jose, where she was scheduled to speak at another church, Lozano said. Moments after they entered the van, an unmarked vehicle stopped them.
The driver of Arellano's van, Roberto Lopez, poked his head out because he wanted to see why they were being blocked. Several other unmarked vehicles surrounded their van.
Agents emerged from all the cars screaming for Arellano to get out, Lozano said. Her 8-year-old son, Saul, started to cry, and Arellano said to everyone in the car, "Calm down. Don't have any fear. They can't hurt me."
Then she turned to the people who were about to arrest her and she said, "You're going to have to give me a minute with my son," Lozano said. She spent time with her son in the car, then surrendered.
Arellano was arrested on Main Street, near the church, where she slept Saturday night and where she's held several press conferences Saturday and today.
aolivo@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 7709.story
Immigration activist who sought sanctuary arrested in L.A.
Immigration activist who sought sanctuary arrested in L.A.
By PETER PRENGAMAN Associated Press Writer
News Fuze
Article Launched:08/19/2007 04:02:19 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES—An illegal immigrant who sought sanctuary in a Chicago church for a year to avoid deportation and separation from her 8-year-old American son was arrested Sunday, the church's pastor said.
Elvira Arellano was arrested before 3 p.m. outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church on L.A.'s historic Olvera Street where she had been speaking to reporters, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago where she sought sanctuary.
Coleman said he was with Arellano when she was detained, but declined to provide other details.
"We're trying to determine her situation right now," he said.
It was unclear what law enforcement agency had taken Arellano into custody.
The 32-year-old Arellano arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday, leaving her sanctuary for the first time in a year to campaign for immigration reform.
A call to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not immediately returned.
Arellano has become a symbol of the struggles of illegal immigrant parents and a source of controversy. She had said Saturday she was not afraid of being taken into custody by immigration agents.
"From the time I took sanctuary the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want," Arellano said in Spanish. "I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight."
Arellano came to Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly after, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport.
She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and later convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August.
She sought sanctuary at the storefront church on Chicago's West Side Aug. 15, 2006. She had not left the church property until deciding to be driven to Los Angeles, Coleman said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6665187
Re: Immigration activist who sought sanctuary arrested in L.
Quote:
Originally Posted by magyart
"I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight."
Wait, I am confuse, El-vile-ra......
Stay and fight?
or
Your country?
So, you admit that the USA is not your country.....yet your preference is to stay in this alien nation and FIGHT?? Fight for what? Against whom? This mindset is VERY telling of the illegal immigrant population.