Mexican immigrant who sought US sanctuary arrested

LOS ANGELES, Aug 20 (Reuters) A Mexican woman who fought deportation from the United States by claiming sanctuary in a Chicago church was arrested in Los Angeles, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

A statement from the government agency said Elvira Arellano will be processed for ''removal'' to Mexico under the terms of a judicial order dating back to 1997 when she was first deported for attempting to enter the United States with false papers.

Arellano, 32, spent a year holed up in a Chicago church with her 8-year-old son, Saul, who was born in the United States.

She left the church to come to Los Angeles with her son this weekend to publicize immigration reform efforts. Activists said she spoke at three churches and was yesterday arrested before speaking at a fourth.

Arellano defied a deportation order from the US Department of Homeland Security in August 2006 and spent the subsequent year at Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, securing the support of human rights activists, such as the wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The immigration agency did not say what would happen to the boy, who is a US citizen.

Reuters CS VP0725