Activist vows to fight deportation order

CHICAGO, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- An immigrant-rights advocate in Chicago says she will not allow federal authorities to deport her to Mexico without a fight.

Elvira Arellano, a cleaning lady who became a national spokeswoman for families facing deportation, has sought refuge in a Chicago church after defying an order to report to the Department of Homeland Security, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Arellano said she is prepared to pay the consequences.

"If I have to spend 10 or 20 years in jail, I don't care," Arellano said. "Because I am going to fight."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said agents have the authority to go into a church or anywhere else to make an arrest.

Legal experts say a church offers no formal protection, but it could put the government in the awkward position of having to pull Arellano out of the church while television cameras are rolling, the newspaper said.

Arellano was arrested in 2002 during an immigration sweep at O'Hare International Airport. Illinois lawmakers had urged homeland security officials to let Arellano remain in Chicago to care for her U.S.-born son, who has ADHD and other health problems.