U.S. Deports Sanctuary Movement's Symbol

In this booking photo released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shown is Elvira Arellano after she was arrested Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007, in Los Angeles. Arellano was arrested outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church on L.A.'s historic Olvera Street where she had been speaking to reporters, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago where she sought sanctuary last year. (AP Photo/Immigration and Customs Enforcement) (AP)

"This was a very, very sensitive removal for us as well as Mexico," Mack said.

Opponents of illegal immigration said Arellano's arrest was overdue, and a U.S. immigration official said she had been a criminal fugitive. Mexican authorities said the deportation highlighted a need to overhaul U.S. immigration laws.

"It's tragic when a mother is separated from her son," Cabrera said.

Arellano said she may return to her home in the Mexican state of Michoacan and then return to Tijuana in September for a demonstration coinciding with planned immigration protests in the United States.

Jim Hayes, director of ICE in Los Angeles, said "proper perspective" should be placed on the woman's case. Using a false identity, as in the case of Arellano, who was convicted of using someone else's Social Security number, can be a threat to national security, he said.

"We don't think she's a martyr," Hayes said. "She was a criminal fugitive who is in violation of the law."

Anti-illegal immigrant groups applauded the arrest.

"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.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the case demonstrates the need for a reform of U.S. immigration laws.

"Until we resolve the status of the estimated 12 million undocumented people living and working in the United States by giving them some meaningful pathway to citizenship, families will continue to be torn apart," Villaraigosa said.

Arellano arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was soon deported to Mexico, 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 a year ago but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.

Immigration activists said they will continue Arellano's plan to go to Washington, D.C., and take part in a prayer meeting and rally for immigration reform on Sept. 12. They also called for a national boycott on that date.

The sentiment was echoed outside an ICE office in Chicago on Monday.

"Her voice will not be silenced," activist Jacobita Alonzo told a crowd of about 50 supporters.

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Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen and Michael Tarm in Chicago and Peter Prengaman, Raquel Maria Dillon and Greg Risling in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of 'Coleman')