Thread: Church-Housed (Illegal)Immigrant Goes On Hunger Strike

Church-Housed Immigrant Goes on Hunger Strike

By Karen Hawkins
Associated Press Writer

Fri, Apr. 06 2007 02:49 PM ET

CHICAGO (AP) - An undocumented mother taking refuge in a West Side church to avoid deportation announced plans Thursday for a 25-day hunger strike that is timed to coincide with Easter weekend.

Elvira Arellano and her pastor, The Rev. Walter Coleman, will both go without food until May 1. They planned a final meal with community members Thursday night and began their hunger strike on Good Friday.

"I made my decision to go on a hunger strike, and that is not easy," Arellano said through an interpreter. "But it's a sacrifice I believe is just because I cannot continue to see such injustice."

She spoke at a news conference at Adalberto United Methodist Church, where she and her 8-year-old son Saul have lived since mid-August. She has been an outspoken critic of immigration raids and mass deportations, using her own plight as an example of how current policies separate families.

Arellano has said she continues to defy her deportation order so that she can stay in the country with her son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Federal immigration authorities have said they will apprehend her at a time and place of their choosing.

Arellano and Coleman both referenced the Bible in announcing the strike, with Arellano noting that immigration officials continue to carry out raids during the "Holy Week" before Easter. Coleman called on religious leaders around the country to conduct hunger strikes of their own.

Arellano illegally crossed into the U.S. in 1997. She was arrested and sent back to Mexico but returned within several days and moved to Chicago three years later. In 2002, Arellano was arrested again and convicted of working as a cleaning woman at O'Hare International Airport under a false Social Security number.

She said she timed the hunger strike to end on May 1 to commemorate the beginning of the mass immigration rights protests that were held across the country last year.

It is "the day that our people come out to march and to boycott, so this government doesn't continue to abuse us," she said.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.


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It is "the day that our people come out to march and to boycott, so this government doesn't continue to abuse us," she said.

What is this illegal talking about?! She broke into our country illegally not once but TWICE!!

She has to leave and this has nothing to do with government abuse. She abused our laws!

i say some locals sit outside and eat...

1st time is a misdemeaner, 2nd offense is a felony, isn't it? So now the Church is aiding and abetting a known felon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Church has the authority to house a known felon whether they agree or not. She's probably trying to avoid the authorities, for commiting the felony of returning illegally a second time to this country, and now with tightened laws on ID theft, she's looking at some tough ones there too.

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

1st time is a misdemeaner, 2nd offense is a felony, isn't it? So now the Church is aiding and abetting a known felon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Church has the authority to house a known felon whether they agree or not. She's probably trying to avoid the authorities, for commiting the felony of returning illegally a second time to this country, and now with tightened laws on ID theft, she's looking at some tough ones there too.

The fact that she is a convicted felon should seal her fate, period. I think I'll write her and Rev. Slime a letter and suggest that she not drink a drop of liquids either. These people are really touching on raw nerves now.

Originally Posted by dragons5

i say some locals sit outside and eat...

LOL!! She will never last.

Bring a grill and make some fajitas and set it by the window where shes staying , have a little get together , free fajitas!

Hunger strike or not, ICE should arrest her in the church and deport her. Many other illegal aliens are being deported regardless of their childrens status why is she any different? She must be getting sick of living in a church by now. If she sets foot outta there she will be arrested and good riddens to a criminal that has been ordered deported twice

lsmith1338 wrote:

She must be getting sick of living in a church by now. If she sets foot outta there she will be arrested and good riddens to a criminal that has been ordered deported twice

Exactly, she is getting cabin fever or "church fever" from being cooped up in there all this time and she is going for the sympathy factor, hoping someone will feel bad for her and let her leave without any repurcussions! Good try Elvira but you are just making us more POed!

There is one good thing about Elvira going on a hunger strike. It must mean that the rumor about her being pregnant isn't true.