Elvira Arellano, who spent more than a year camped out in a church to escape the long arm of the law has finally, at long last, been deported. Here's the liberal spin on this from Ezra Klein,

The important part of this story, as Atrios notes, is that there is now an 8-year-old American citizen who is without his mother. The US government, of course, has no ability - yet, at least - to deport an American citizen because of the misdemeanor committed by their relative.

...Saul Arellano is 8 years old, and he is an American citizen. You can call him "anchor baby" if you want, or any other pejorative you can think of that will help to dehumanize him and separate him from the rest of this nation's citizens. But he is, as I said and cannot say enough, an American citizen, due all the rights and privileges that status carries.

Is there any other misdemeanor in our legal system that can deprive an 8-year-old boy of his mother? Should the US Government really be able to separate a child from his mother over this?

Is this who we really want to be?

Gee, maybe we shouldn't ever put anyone with kids in prison any more because we don't want to "separate a child from his mother." Maybe some budding young John Edwards clone can try this out at trial,

"Your honor, my client did break the law and I know the penalty she's supposed to get is two years in jail, but you don't want to deprive a little boy of his mother, do you? Should the US Government really be able to separate a child from his mother over this?"

The problem here isn't the law, it's the criminal behavior. Elvira Arellano has no one to blame but herself for any hardships she and her child are suffering right now.

Moreover, let's get it straight: Arellano could have taken her son with her back to Mexico but instead, she chose to abandon him in the United States. Maybe that was because she thought he would have better opportunities in the United States or maybe she was sick of taking care of him -- either way, she sure isn't winning any mother of the year awards given the situation her criminal behavior put her child in.

Also, it's worth noting that there's a better way to fix this situation than amnesty: it's by not allowing the children of illegal immigrants to become citizens of the United States in the first place. I believe that is doable without a Constitutional amendment and it should be done. The whole idea that anyone, from any country in the world can get knocked up, step across the US border 5 minutes before their child is born, and have that child be a citizen of the United States who's entitled to receive welfare, food stamps, etc., is ludicrous. You don't want to split up families? Well, that would certainly do it because the kids wouldn't be US citizens and wouldn't be allowed to stay here.