US deports sanctuary movement's symbol

FE Team | Published: August 22, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Elvira Arellano (left) answers reporters' questions as her 8-year-old son Saul sits at the table with others involved in the sanctuary movement.

TIJUANA (Mexico), Aug 21 (AP): An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her American-born son was deported from the United States to Mexico, where she vowed Monday to continue her campaign to change US immigration laws.
Elvira Arellano, 32, became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her sanctuary. She announced last week that she was leaving the Adalberto United Methodist Church to try to lobby US lawmakers.
She had just spoken at a Los Angeles rally when she was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church and deported, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist.
"They were in a hurry to deport me because they saw that I was threatening to mobilise and organise the people to fight for legalisation," Arellano said in Spanish outside a Tijuana apartment building where she was staying with a friend. "I have a fighting spirit and I'm going to continue fighting."