Lady, you had it coming...

I thought I'd try my hand at fisking this:

AP) LOS ANGELES An illegal immigrant who stayed in a Chicago church for a year to avoid separation from her 8-year-old son, a U.S. citizen, was arrested Sunday and being processed for deportation.

Actually, no; she's free to take her son back to Mexico with her. No-one is stopping her from doing that.

Elvira Arellano, who arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday after leaving her sanctuary to campaign for immigration reform, was arrested around 1:30 p.m. outside Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church where she had been speaking to reporters, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist, the Chicago church.

This has been a long time coming. Not a big fan of sanctuary for criminals, myself. While I look askance at many of the "separation of church and state" issues brought up nowadays (usually by those ACLU asshats), this church took a little too much interest in politics for my liking.

Arellano was "being processed for removal to Mexico based upon a deportation order originally issued by a federal immigration judge in 1997," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a news release.

Wow, a mere ten years later. Government efficiency never ceases to amaze me. You know, if they'd gotten on the ball ten years ago, we wouldn't have this "illegal mother of a U.S. citizen" brouhaha now.

Immigration activists promised protests and vigils to support her.

Good luck with that. Let me know how that works out for you.

"We are sad, but at the same time we are angry," said Javier Rodriguez, a Chicago immigration activist who worked with her. "How dare they arrest this woman?"

Oh, I don't know; maybe because SHE BROKE THE FUCKING LAW?

Anti-illegal immigrant groups said the arrest was long overdue. "Just because the woman has gone public and made an issue of the fact that she is defying law doesn't mean the government doesn't have to do its job," said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits on immigration.

Um, am I the only one who thinks this is a reasonable position?

Arellano, 32, 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.

Of course not. Compared to Mexico's federales, I'm sure she's going to be treated with kid gloves. Glad to see the article actually used the phrase illegal immigrant. That's a rarity anymore.

"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."

And now you get to go. Buh-bye. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. Oh, and by the way - you may want to take your SON with you; assuming you're any kind of decent parent, that is. Oh, wait - he may still have a use as a bargaining chip over HERE. You know, the sympathy factor - how the eeeevillll US (that everyone seems to WANT to come to) is keeping a family split up.

At an afternoon news conference in Los Angeles, Arellano's son, Saul, hid behind Coleman's wife, Emma Lozano, and wiped away tears. Lozano said she is the boy's legal guardian.
"He's taking it better than we thought he would," said Lozano, the head of an immigration rights group in Chicago.

Sympathy factor already. You know, my son is the same age as this kid, and it tears me up to see this little boy go through this. He has no understanding of what's going on. He just wants to be with his mommy. Problem is, she only wants to be with him on HER terms. Poor kid, to have a mom like that. And no, I don't want to hear that she's keeping him in the States for his best interest. His best interest at age 8 is to be with his mom. He's already a U.S. citizen, so once he comes of age, he's perfectly entitled to live here... but right now he needs his mom more than the US.

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 convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August.

A repeat offender. Toss identity theft into the mix, and this is really someone that I am quite happy NOT extending the privilege of U.S. citizenship to. If our laws are an inconvenience to you, why stop there? Why obey any of them? Naa... good riddance. Go to the back of the line. Course, if I had my way, you would have forfeited ANY chance of getting citizenship after you pissed all over our laws.

She sought refuge 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. As news of her arrest spread Sunday, members of the Chicago church began arriving to pray. "People will be sad about what happened to Elvira," said Catherine Archibald, a member of the congregation and a friend of Elvira's. "But I think it is very important now that we mobilize and push even harder."

And those of us who actually respect the rule of law will just push back. We either have a civil society, or we don't. Like I said here, why are illegals more deserving of citizenship than those of us who wait in line, pay the fees and jump through the hoops?
When you have to work at something, cough up hard cash for it, you tend to cherish and appreciate it somewhat more than if it was just thrown at you.
Illegal immigrants have no appreciation for this country or its institutions. That much is glaringly obvious to me, and I really don't want people like that for my neighbors. There's already too many of that sort in here. We call them liberals.