For more information on La Familia Latina Unida, see Centro Sin Fronteras (Nonprofit)

La Familia Latina Unida (“The United Latin Family”) is a Chicago, Illinois-based 501(c)(4) illegal immigration advocacy organization formed in 2001 by Elvira Arellano, an activist for immigrants living illegally in the United States. The organization is affiliated with the Chicago-based 501(c)(3) pro-illegal immigration groups Centro Sin Fronteras and Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a project of La Familia Latina Unida. Together, the organizations have been involved in organizing approximately 1,000 economic migrants from Central America to attempt to cross the U.S. and Mexican borders illegally since 2010.^[1]

Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, former fugitive from U.S. immigration authorities, and activist for illegal immigrants in the U.S., formed La Familia Latina Unida as an expansion of the Centro Sin Fronteras. ^[2] La Familia Latina Unida runs Pueblo Sin Fronteras (“People Without Borders”), a group that organizes “migrant caravans” from Mexico and Latin America to cross the U.S. border illegally.^[3]

Founding

Elvira Arellano is listed as the president of La Familia Latina Unida.^[4] According to IRS filings, La Familia Latina Unida failed to file a Form 990 tax return for three consecutive years and had its 501(c)(4) tax exemption revoked in May 2017.^[5] Its current IRS tax status is unknown. However, the organization continues to operate as a nonprofit, according to filings with the Illinois Secretary of State.^[6]

In 1997, Arellano entered the U.S. illegally and was deported to Mexico by U.S. authorities. She successfully entered the country illegally again within days of her arrest, and lived three years in Oregon before moving to Chicago, where she was arrested in 2002 for working under a false Social Security number. ^[7] Following Arellano’s arrest, the Centro Sin Fronteras formed La Familia Latina Unida to protest her arrest; around this time, Arellano joined the Centro. ^[8] As of March 2017, Arellano has been granted a stay of deportation by a U.S. immigration court.^[9]

Arellano was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to appear before an immigration court in 2006; instead, Arellano fled to the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where she was considered a fugitive from U.S. law. ^[10]

Pueblo Sin Fronteras and La Familia Latina Unida formerly shared the same Chicago address (2716 W. Division St, Chicago, Illinois 60622), which is the same address as the Adalberto United Methodist Church Arellano sheltered in from U.S. immigration authorities. ^{[11] [12]}

Activism

Illegal Immigrant Caravans (2018)

Also see Centro Sin Fronteras and Pueblo Sin Fronteras (Nonprofit)

In Spring 2018, hundreds of migrants from Central America approached the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum in the United States and threatening to enter illegally if their request was denied. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a project of La Familia Latina Unida, organized the caravan in conjunction with the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project.^{[13] [14]} The CARA coalition consists of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the American Immigration Council, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, all groups advocating for legal status for illegal immigrants and expanded immigration overall.^[15]  These organizations have been funded by a number of major left-of-center grantmaking foundations, including the Open Society Foundations, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York. ^[16] The caravan eventually halted in Mexico City on April 4 instead of reaching the United States border.^[17]

In a press release released by Pueblo Sin Fronteras on March 23, 2018, the group “demand[ed]” the governments of Mexico and the United States “open the[ir] borders to us because we are as much citizens as the people of the counties where we are and/or travel.” Other demands were “that deportations, which destroy families, come to an end” and “that the U.S. government not end TPS [Temporary Protected Status] for those who need it.” ^[18] Temporary Protected Status is a status designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security which grants eligible foreign nationals protected status during “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”^[19] The demands appear to violate U.S. law, which prohibits behavior by individuals that “encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States” illegally.^[20]

The press release was co-signed by Roberto Corona, the founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, and Alex Mensing, an organizer with the group.^[21]

Pueblo Sin Fronteras has reportedly organized roughly 1,000 immigrants in caravans to attempt to enter the U.S. and Mexico illegally since 2010, primarily from Honduras and El Salvador:^[22]

“The idea behind an organized group journey is to alleviate some danger on the long trip, through the simple principle of safety in numbers. Pueblo Sin Fronteras has its own organizers to handle logistics, and each individual is responsible for their own provision of food, water, and funding for transportation, should it be necessary. Groups are created by Pueblo Sin Fronteras; each composed of about 15 individuals under one leader. Five groups are then organized into a sector. This is how the caravan is structured and maintains order as the group moves northward.”