Immigration activist Arellano arrested

[wndycty]

Source: Chicago Tribune

Immigration activist Arellano arrested

By Antonio Olivo | Tribune staff reporter
6:40 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 on Sunday 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 got in the van, an unmarked vehicle stopped them.

The driver of Arellano's van, Roberto Lopez, poked his head out of the van because he wanted to see why they were being blocked. Several other unmarked vehicles surrounded their van.

Agents came out of all the cars screaming at the top of their lungs for her 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."
-snip-

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-elvira_web.1aug20,1,5166191.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Was she deliberately tempting fate???

Or just sick and tired of being holed up in that church for a year?

I figured that this would happen, given the publicity of her departure from the Chicago church.

[poorinnaples]

2. Oh well...

Maybe a good reason why the church shouldn't be involved in matters of state.

[pingzing58]

4. What sanctuary from the Church has been around since the 7th century.

Here is what wikipedia says about the modern sanctuary movement that I was involved in during Reagan's so called "freedom fighter" war in central america: Sanctuary movement in modern times. Sanctuary of refugees from Central American civil wars
Part of a broader anti-war movement positioned against U.S. foreign policy in Central America, by 1987 440 sites in the United States had been declared "sanctuary cities" open to migrants from this civil wars in the Central America region.

Sanctuary of immigrants:

These sites included university campuses and cities. From the 1980s continuing into the 2000s, there also have been instances of churches providing "sanctuary" for short periods to migrants facing deportation in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, the United States, and Canada, among other nations. From 1983 to 2003 Canada experienced 36 sanctuary incidents. The "New Sanctuary Movement" organization estimates that at least 600,000 people in the United States have at least one family member in danger of deportation.

[kurth]

3. She's going back to her country

"From the time I took sanctuary the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want," she 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."
http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/153621.html

[pingzing58]

5. Without her child. Nice to know you support the separation of families.