'Occupy' Protesters Break into Foreclosed North Hollywood Home of Woman Who Was Deported

Occupy L.A. demonstrators angered that a mother of two was deported to Mexico after protesting the foreclosure of her North Hollywood home broke into that home Monday during a demonstration, according to KTLA.

The rally was intended to be a peaceful candlelight vigil, but the break-in led to a standoff with Los Angeles police, according to the report, which said the standoff ended peacefully with no arrests.

Blanca Cardenas, 37, an undocumented Mexican national married to a U.S. citizen and who has two children who are U.S. citizens, was arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers for resisting eviction from her North Hollywood home, then deported to Mexico by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to reports in the LA Weekly and the Latin American Herald Tribune.

Cardenas was arrested by LAPD officers on Feb. 22 for trespassing at a home at 5557 Elmer Ave. that she has lived at for eight years, according to the reports, and had no previous criminal record. 

The deportation runs counter to ICE's deportation guidelines, according to the LA Weekly, which states people without a criminal record or who have a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, child, or parent are to be ranked as a low priority. However, her arrest for tresspassing did then give her a criminal record. But the fact that the arrest was for protesting a foreclosure has irked many.
Organizations including the TransNational Mexican Brotherhood and Occupy LA  are planning to protest Cardenas’ deportation at a March 10 event in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune.

The LA Weekly has been critical of ICE and President Obama's immigration policies.

The attached YouTube video is a Spanish-language report on Cardenas' deportation from Estrella TV.