Thread: Judge dismisses immigration activist's suit

By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 29, 2006, 8:15 PM CDT

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of the young son of a woman who fled to a Humboldt Park church after the government ordered her deportation to Mexico.

The pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church, Rev. Walter Coleman, had filed a suit contending that 7-year-old Saul Arellano's rights would be violated if his mother, Elvira Arellano, were deported.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve sided with the government, which had argued that the child's rights would not be violated and that allowing his mother to stay would grant his mother an extra benefit. Saul is a U.S. citizen by birth.

"The court concludes that, because the pending removal order does not have any legal effect on Saul's right to remain in the United States, Saul will not suffer an injury to his constitutional rights when that order is executed," the judge wrote.

"Put differently, the pending removal order does not prevent Saul from exercising his rights of citizenship. This is not to say that Saul will not suffer a hardship; undoubtedly, he will."

St. Eve wrote that the question before her was whether that hardship was of "constitutional magnitude," and she found that it was not.

Coleman's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Elvira Arellano took refuge in the church after defying an Aug. 15 deportation order. She had been denied a stay of the order while the case was heard.

Observers of the immigration debate had said the suit had the potential to affect the more than 3 million children in the U.S. in a situation similar to Saul's.

But St. Eve found that in prior cases, the courts have explained that "a removal order does not impinge on constitutional rights because a citizen child remains free to exercise his right to live in the United States."

Prosecutors had argued it was hypocritical for Elvira Arellano to run for protection under the law while knowingly violating it.

"Ms. Arellano should not be permitted to ignore the law and yet use the law through the means of a legal fiction by challenging the order through her son," prosecutors had argued.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/cust ... &cset=true

She is illegal, is breaking the law and should be deported. No one should be rewarded for breaking the law no matter if they are legal or not.
There are also numerous other lawsuits which they are trying to make into a class action suit on behave of American children with illegal mothers and/or fathers. This has got to stop.

"The court concludes that, because the pending removal order does not have any legal effect on Saul's right to remain in the United States, Saul will not suffer an injury to his constitutional rights when that order is executed," the judge wrote.

This is troubling. I have a feeling that they will dump their anchor babies on us hoping that the anchors will grow up and tow them back in here with family visas.

If a deported foreign national abandons their child(ren), I would not allow future contact because of exploitation.

Dixie

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/cust ... i-news-hed


Judge denies bid to block immigration activists deportation

By MIKE ROBINSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
Published September 29, 2006, 5:30 PM CDT


CHICAGO -- A federal judge struck a blow Friday to the hopes of an immigration activist who has taken refuge in a Chicago church to avoid deportation, dismissing her lawsuit against the government.

Elvira Arellano, 31, a Mexican national, had hoped that U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve would rule that deporting her would violate the constitutional rights of her 7-year-old son, Saul, an American citizen.

But St. Eve ruled that no one's rights would be violated by deporting Arellano back to Mexico. She did say, however, the child would suffer a hardship.

"The question before the court is whether that hardship is of constitutional magnitude -- under any construction of the alleged facts, it is not," St. Eve said in her order.

St. Eve concluded that the pending removal order does not prevent Saul from exercising his rights of citizenship.

"Saul will not suffer any injury to his constitutional right to remain in the United States," she said.

The case was being closely watched around the country not only because of the drama of a mother fighting to stay with her son, but because Arellano has given focus to the cause of undocumented immigrants who want to stay in the United States.

"She is the face of the movement," said Emma Lozano, executive director of the Centro Sin Fronteras and a strong Arellano supporter in an August interview with The Associated Press.

St. Eve's order dismissed the suit, which technically was brought on behalf of Saul by the pastor of the church where Arellano has taken refuge. It was not immediately clear what other steps could be taken.

Arellano's attorney, Joseph Mathews, was not reached for comment early Friday evening. A message was left on his answering machine.

But there was no sign that the government was preparing to go into the church to remove Arellano by force.

"We'll review the decision once we receive it," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas. He declined to comment further.

The Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of the Adalberto United Methodist Church where Arellano has taken refuge, said that the woman would carry on with her struggle to remain in the United States despite the ruling.

"It doesn't change anything," he said.

A phone message left for Arellano was not immediately returned.

Arellano was supposed to surrender for deportation to Mexico on Aug. 15.

Instead, she and her son moved into a cramped room in the storefront church sandwiched between a bank and a beauty parlor in Chicago's heavily Puerto Rican Humboldt Park neighborhood.

She has frequently told reporters visiting the church she wants to stay in the United States to provide a better life for herself and her son.

"I'm not going to leave. This is a place where God has put me, this is God's will and I'm going to stay here," Arellano has said.

Arellano first was deported from the United States shortly after illegally crossing the border in 1997, according to immigration enforcement. She says she returned within days, went on to live in Oregon for three years and moved to Chicago in 2000.

She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare International Airport, where she was employed as a cleaning woman, and subsequently convicted of working under a false Social Security number.

We have to do something about that 14th amendment! believe that is the axis of all this evil, just to borrow a few words of our beloved President!

This good news is added to the homepage
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=1541

Really the only thing that's even going to come close to keeping the illegals from dumping their kids is when a judge rules that a baby must be born here and parented by at least one legal citizen. As it is, it's obvious that the constitution stating it is not enough, apparently a judge is going to have to say it flat out.

"I'm not going to leave. This is a place where God has put me, this is God's will and I'm going to stay here,"

Looks like Elvira and God are not on the same page.

Looks like Elvira and God are not on the same page.

Must be a problem in the translation. There's just some words that they just don't get.

Yes, words they don't understand or want to.