Elvira Arellano, 32, an illegal immigrant who had defied deportation orders and claimed sanctuary in a Chicago church for a year, left the church to publicize immigration reform efforts in Los Angeles, where she was arrested.
Her 8-year-old son, Saul, is a U.S.-born U.S. citizen.
U.S. immigration officials said Arellano was taken to the border crossing at San Ysidro, California, where she was turned over to Mexican authorities.
"ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is responsible for enforcing our nation's immigration laws and making sure they are applied fairly," Jim Hayes, director of ICE's Los Angeles office, told a news conference.
Arellano was a "criminal fugitive from Mexico seeking to elude federal capture," Hayes said.
She was removed from the United States in 1997 before illegally entering and being arrested and convicted in 2002 for illegally using another person's social security number to gain employment, he said.
Arellano was working as a janitor at Chicago's O'Hare International airport at the time of her 2002 arrest, he said.
"I think if you put that into appropriate perspective, we have to look back six years ago and see that people who use false identification documents can in fact be very dangerous," Hayes said, referring to the 11th September hijackers.
A small group of protesters and immigration activists condemned the deportation comparing it to returning a slave to his masters. - DDNEWS
Pictures for this story
