Deported Mexican Immigration Activist Asks for Sanctuary in the US Omar Millan - The Associated Press
go to original March 19, 2014

Will Obama deport Elvira Arellano again? #Bringthemhome #Reforma150 (firmeprocess)

TIJUANA, Mexico — A Mexican immigrant rights advocate who gained international attention when she took refuge in a Chicago church before being deported asked Tuesday for refuge in the United States on humanitarian grounds.

Elvira Arellano crossed into the United States with her U.S.-born teenage and 4-year-old sons along with a group of Mexican and Central American migrants from the border city of Tijuana, many of them deported mothers with U.S.-born children.

"I am asking that they let me in the United States legally on humanitarian grounds, because I am a defender of human rights in Mexico and I've received kidnapping and violence threats," Arellano said before entering the U.S. "But more importantly, because they have separated my son from his chance to have a good upbringing."

Arellano, 38, was deported to Mexico in 2007 after seeking sanctuary at a Chicago church for a year. She was deported without her son, who eventually reunited with her in Mexico.

Organized by the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, this was fourth such group to enter the U.S. at the Otay Mesa border crossing in San Diego in the last nine days, as part of protests to demand an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws and an end to deportations.

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Photo: AP/Alex Cossio

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