Immigration Activist Arellano Returns To Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) — An undocumented immigrant who holed up in a Chicago church for a year is back and trying a new tack to stay in the U.S.
WBBM's Nancy Harty reports this time, Elvira Arellano says she gave herself up to immigration officials as she crossed into California from Mexico, saying she was seeking a humanitarian visa.
Through an interpreter, she said she and her nearly five-month-old son were released.
"She said I am so happy to be here to be part of the dream my son has, but I cannot forget those faces of those children that were waiting for her when she got out of detention hoping also that their mother would be able to come out," Arellano said through an interpreter.
Arellano was released on supervision and has to report back in six months. She was deported in 2007 after spending a year in Adalberto United Methodist Church.
Her attorney says he thinks she has a good shot at getting asylum on the grounds that her high-profile immigration work and her U.S. citizen son have made her a target in Mexico.