Feds at war among selves on immigration

As a couple of recent news stories indicate, when it comes to enforcing our nation’s immigration laws, the federal government isn’t just at odds with “sanctuary cities” and “sanctuary churches” and pro-illegal immigration activists.

It’s also at war with itself.

The first story concerned Elvira Arellano, the illegal immigrant who spent a year evading deportation in a Chicago “sanctuary church” before being arrested last week in Los Angeles. She was taken to a federal immigration facility in Santa Ana and then quickly deported to her native Mexico.

The Arellano case has prompted protests and calls by pro-illegal immigration groups for a daylong boycott next month. Some activists even compare Arellano to Rosa Parks, the black woman who in 1955 helped launch the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama.

But Arellano isn’t a Rosa Parks. As Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told me, “This woman is not an icon. She’s a criminal alien fugitive.”

Kice is right. Arellano was first deported to Mexico in 1997 after being arrested for using fake documents to enter this country. She crossed back into the U.S. a few days later, which was a felony.

Later, after having a child in the U.S. (her son is therefore a U.S. citizen, and can remain here), Arellano got a job cleaning airplanes in Chicago by showing a counterfeit Social Security card – yet another felony. After being arrested during a post-9/11 nationwide sweep of airport employees, she pleaded guilty to using the phony card and later was ordered to report for deportation, at which point she became a fugitive

Complete text linked below:

Source:
Feds at war among selves on immigration
OC Register