This is a rush transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," August 20, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: It's a story we brought you more than a year ago, an illegal alien who took sanctuary in a Chicago church to avoid being deported. Well, one year later, the law finally caught up with Elvira Arellano. The feds arrested her yesterday and deported her to Mexico several hours later. Arellano has an American-born son who is still in the States. The pastor who gave her refuge was on this program last year:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: No, no, I'm going to finish my question, sir.
WALTER COLEMAN, PASTOR, ADALABERTO UNITED METHODIST: Every bank broke the law. Every company broke the law. The IRS broke the law when they took her taxes.
HANNITY: Sir, let me correct you, with all due respect...
COLEMAN: She is the least culpable of all those people.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: There are a lot of people that came to this country legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLMES: And joining us now from the March 10th Movement, Jorge Mujica, and the co-director of Families for Freedom, Subhash Kateel.
Mr. Kateel, you knew this woman. You know her family, right?
SUBHASH KATEEL, FAMILIES FOR FREEDOM: I was on the phone with her family.
COLMES: And you know the child? How old is the child?
KATEEL: I wasn't as much in touch with the child...
(CROSSTALK)
COLMES: So basically this is separating a family here.
KATEEL: Yes, sir.
COLMES: Because the law — look, we can argue whether the law should be followed or not, but...
KATEEL: ... it's separating a family without a hearing. That's the main thing. There wasn't an immigration judge that was able to weigh whether the family should stay together, whether it was in the best interests of the family, best interests of the child, the types of things you do when you take a mother out of a home. There was not that type of hearing.
COLMES: Does the law call for a hearing, that there has to be one?
KATEEL: No, the law was struck 11 years ago in conference committee that took the rights away from an immigration judge to decide whether she should get a hearing.
COLMES: Mr. Mujica, if the net result of a law is that it tears families asunder, the question is, is this proper? Is it proper to deport a mother whose children are actually U.S. citizens?
JORGE MUJICA, MARCH 10TH MOVEMENT: Well, it is proper, in the sense that that's what the law says. The problem here is that, from President Bush to Michael Chertoff, you know, everybody says the law is broken. And Elvira Arellano is a person that is fighting to fix the law. So how do you use a broken law to deport somebody that is trying to fix the law? It doesn't make any sense.
COLMES: And also, Mr. Mujica, isn't it selective enforcement, because there are many families in this case and not all being deported. She became a public figure. Because of her refuge in the church, she made public appearances like on this show. And she became...
(CROSSTALK)
MUJICA: Her case is not unique. Her case is not unique. You know, there are at least 400,000 either fathers or mothers of U.S. citizens living in this country without documents. And each one of them, it's a possible deportee.
HANNITY: All right, Subhash, she entered this country illegally in 1997. She was deported in Mexico shortly after she arrived, returned again, and then worked in Illinois. She was arrested, convicted for working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender, and she seeks refuge in a church. And you don't really care about the law, because the law is, in her case, she was already sent back, didn't care about or respect the United States of America's sovereignty. She doesn't care.
KATEEL: I'm saying let a judge decide that.
HANNITY: A judge already deported her in 1997. She was sent back and she came back again, sir.
KATEEL: No judge never had that choice. You're a father, right...
HANNITY: Sir, did she enter this country illegally?
KATEEL: Your father...
HANNITY: Don't ask about my father. Did she enter this country illegally?
KATEEL: She did whatever she did for her kid, for her family, the same way you would.
HANNITY: You won't answer my question. Simple question: Did she break American law by coming into this country illegally? The answer's yes!
MUJICA: She committed an administrative fault.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... going back to your country is hardly the death penalty...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Well, why can't her family go with her to...
(CROSSTALK)
KATEEL: Why couldn't a judge decide that?
HANNITY: A judge did. She was deported. And she came back again.
KATEEL: You're not an immigration judge. An immigration judge did not have the power...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You know what? You don't respect American law. That's the bottom line. No, you don't. You don't respect American law. You don't respect our sovereignty. You want an illegal immigrant to stay here...
(CROSSTALK)
KATEEL: I say give her a hearing in front of a judge.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: And she came back again.
KATEEL: You're not hearing me, because all I'm saying is, restore hearings, give the judge...
(CROSSTALK)
COLMES: I believe in family values. I think families should stay together. Thank you very much for being with us.
HANNITY: She can stay together with them over there...
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