Thread: Chicago immigration activist to leave church refuge

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

CHICAGO - The smell of basil and spinach fills the kitchen on the second floor of the church Elvira Arellano and her son call home.

A family friend teaches 8-year-old Saul to play chess on the carpet of the living room steps away from where Arellano tends to the green concoction slow-cooking on the stove.

The recipe came from a friend, the fresh ingredients from Aldalberto United Methodist Church's small fenced-in garden, the one place Arellano -- an illegal immigrant from Mexico -- has been able to enjoy the outdoors since seeking sanctuary at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.


The woman who has become an international symbol for the struggles of illegal immigrant parents says she plans to venture beyond the well-worn walls of the church on Chicago's West Side for the first time since taking refuge to avoid deportation and separation from her son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Arellano planned to formally announce Wednesday a Sept. 12 trip to Washington D.C. during which she plans to lobby Congress for immigration reform, according to the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of the church and longtime Chicago political activist.

It's not clear how she'll get there, but she likely won't be flying, Coleman told The Associated Press Tuesday. He and others worry Arellano will be arrested, but she plans to go anyway.

"I will go with by Bible and my son and I will read to him from the Holy Scriptures as I do everyday," Arellano said in a statement sent Tuesday to The AP. "If this government would separate me from my son, let them do it in front of the men and women who have the responsibility to fix this broken law and uphold the principles of human dignity."

Whether Arellano will continue her sanctuary at the church, sandwiched between a beauty salon and bank in the city's predominantly Puerto Rican Humbolt Park neighborhood, also is unclear.

The 32-year-old says she has been too comfortable there and needs to "join the struggle" outside.

In the past year, Arellano has reignited an interest in a sanctuary movement across the U.S., gaining fame for her continued public defiance and her belief that the U.S. knowingly exploits illegal immigrants.

But she's also drawn criticism from many who say she is part of highly orchestrated movement and exploits her U.S.-born son by having him speak at press conferences.

There is no doubt, however, of her reach.

"She's a household figure at this point and her story is well known because people can relate to it," said Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles who compares Arellano to Rosa Parks.

Arellano came illegally to the U.S. to Washington state in 1997. She was deported shortly thereafter, but returned and worked different jobs, including childcare. She moved to Illinois in 2000 because she had friends in the Chicago area and took a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport.

She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and later convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August, but asked instead to take refuge at her church.

She has gone on hunger strikes, written dozens of letters, sent her son with other activists to Mexico and Washington D.C. to talk with legislators and conducted hundreds of interviews with reporters across the globe.

But she says doesn't consider herself a symbol.

"I am a single mother who has a child who's an American citizen," she said recently, speaking in Spanish.

Arellano said she didn't know she would be in sanctuary this long and considers her past year a success.

If ICE does not pick her up and do their job, then you can bet this new enforcement claimed by Homeland security is just BS!

DUPLICATE

If they don't arrest her the minute she leaves that church they aren't doing their jobs and it's all BS.

She needs to be arrested whether she leaves the church or not, but grab her when she leaves and deport her.

Post her picture all over the country so if she ever tries to re-enter, police can pick her up.

What a disgrace that someone like this would use a church to hide in and that our government would allow it.

If she wants to become a citizen,then

fine,but first she must spend at least ten

years in prison just like citizens must do

if they did what she has done !!!!!!!!!!!

Citizen prisoners children suffer and so

should hers !!!!!!!

This illegal invader has broken the law TWICE...she is now a FELON because she was deported and then defied our laws and came back a second time! When she shows up in he hallowed halls of Congress, I would hope that Tancredo, Bilbray, Rohrbacher, Royce, et al will have ICE waiting on the steps of the Capitol Bldg. to handcuff her and put her on the bus back to Mexico!!! And that goes for the jackpot kid, too! Enough is enough!!!!!!

Originally Posted by AmericanMe

This illegal invader has broken the law TWICE...she is now a FELON because she was deported and then defied our laws and came back a second time! When she shows up in he hallowed halls of Congress, I would hope that Tancredo, Bilbray, Rohrbacher, Royce, et al will have ICE waiting on the steps of the Capitol Bldg. to handcuff her and put her on the bus back to Mexico!!! And that goes for the jackpot kid, too! Enough is enough!!!!!!

Amen to that!

She is making a mockery by going to our government to hold a "fund raiser"! I hope some DC area patriots are there to protest her "freedom" in this country and demand her to be deported back like she's been ordered too!!!

She can take the anchor with her as well!

Moving to News section.

Plus, she is outright DARING them to arrest her!

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