On Wednesday, an immigration judge extended parole for Mexican immigration activist, Elvira Arellano, who has already been twice deported from the US. Arellano made headlines in 2006 when she was facing removal from the country and took refuge in a church in Chicago.
Her previous probationary period for having violated immigration law was about to expire. But, as a result of the legal victory, she and her three-year-old son, Emiliano, who was born in Mexico, will now be allowed to stay in the US for a further 12 months, together with her other son, 18-year-old, Saul Arellano, who was born in the US.
All three attended her first meeting at the Chicago office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday, hoping for her current status to be extended, or to be given permanent relief, via political asylum. Although Arellano’s hopes for asylum were not realized, she was given probation for a further year, preventing her deportation from the US. In a statement, ICE said no action was taken due to pending immigration court proceedings.
The 42-year-old was deported to Mexico after trying to enter the US with fraudulent documents in 1997. Later that year, she re-entered the country illegally. She was arrested in 2002 by ICE agents at O’Hare International Airport and given three stays of deportation before taking refuge in a church in 2006, only to be deported in 2007.