Immigrant rights activists say they will still gather in Washington next month despite Arellano’s absence.
"We always knew it was a possibility that she would be arrested," said Colman, who Arellano’s son is now living with, according to the L.A. Times. "She was hopeful the country would have the wisdom and the humanity to let her state her case."
Arellano was part of a movement by metropolitan churches across the nation called the New Sanctuary Movement which sheltered illegal immigrants from deportation officials. Churches in New York, Chicago, San Diego and Los Angeles have participated in the movement.
However, some Christians have opposed the church’s protection of illegal immigrants, arguing that compassion does not justify breaking the law.
Arellano had gone to Los Angles to speak at four local churches over the weekend about immigration reform that would open a pathway for the country’s 12 million illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
Earlier this summer, President Bush and a group of bipartisan senators had tried to push through Congress an immigration reform bill that would have provided a pathway for illegal immigrants to gain legal status while beefing up border security and enacting penalties for those crossing the border illegally.
Fierce opposition to the bill from conservative Republicans who called the legislation amnesty had derailed the legislation, however, leaving the emotionally-charged immigration problem as a potential key issue during the presidential race and a matter for the next administration to contend with.
