Thread: Elvira says "I'll Stay" (Son has joined Swift pro

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1...MMIG15.article

***There's also a poll on this page.....be sure to vote!
I'll post it in the poll section.

And this woman isn't exploiting her son?????

4 months in church: 'I'll stay'
Son, 7, off to Miami while immigrant mom stays put

December 15, 2006
BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter
Elvira Arellano, the 31-year-old illegal immigrant who claimed sanctuary in a Northwest Side church to avoid deportation, marks her fourth month of protest today.

"I'm here," said Arellano, speaking in Spanish, "and here I'll stay until the government reforms laws that tear families apart."

Arellano spoke of the pain of separation Thursday afternoon, hours after sending her ambassador to the world -- her 7-year-old son, Saul -- on his fifth trip to spread her word.

He flew to Miami to join a protest against raids at Swift & Co. meat processor that netted almost 1,300 undocumented workers Tuesday.

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Will Elvira Arellano's protest have an impact on immigration policy?
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• 4 months in church: 'I'll stay'
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• Poll: Will Arellano's protest impact immigration policy?
Saul, scheduled to return to Chicago today, has missed about eight days of school, Arellano said, "but he works with a tutor and faxes in his homework when it's due."

In the last four months Arellano herself has missed her son's parent-teacher conferences, the opening of Mel Gibson's film ''Apocalypto,'' and has gained 10 pounds from being limited to her small apartment above the church.

But the raids stirred her desire to walk out of Adalberto United Methodist Church.

'I'm very positive'
Arellano spent the day fielding phone calls in response to the Florida raids. She works full time for Centro Sin Fronteras, an immigrant rights group, using a fax machine and computer in her living room, but she wanted to be out on the streets.

"I wanted to protest, to gather people and go, but I couldn't," Arellano said.

She faces deportation and is ineligible for U.S. citizenship for having been deported once before, re-entering the country illegally, and then working here under a false Social Security number.

Arellano previously secured stays of deportation with help from Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama. She hopes that a bill sponsored by Rep. Luis Gutierrez will grant her another extension, but it has not moved ahead in the last few months. A federal lawsuit filed on her son's behalf to keep her in the country was dismissed.

"I'm very positive," Arellano said, "and I pray to God I won't be deported.''

Tim Counts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Arellano will be removed at the appropriate place and time.

"We estimate there are more than 660,000 fugitives [in the United States], and she is one of them," he said.

ecepeda@suntimes.com

"I'm here," said Arellano, speaking in Spanish, "and here I'll stay until the government reforms laws that tear families apart

YOU will be leaving and we will be persisent in keeping the process of deportation for illegals going because your illegal existence here is tearing this country apart!



POLL RESULTS ::

Will Elvira Arellano's protest have an impact on immigration policy?
Yes
8% 15 votes
No
91% 168 votes


Total Votes: 183

Originally Posted by April

"I'm here," said Arellano, speaking in Spanish, "and here I'll stay until the government reforms laws that tear families apart

YOU will be leaving and we will be persisent in keeping the process of deportation for illegals going because your illegal existence here is tearing this country apart!



POLL RESULTS ::

Will Elvira Arellano's protest have an impact on immigration policy?
Yes
8% 15 votes
No
91% 168 votes


Total Votes: 183

Agreed, we Citizens need to be relentless in seeing an end to this criminal invasion.

POLL RESULTS ::

Will Elvira Arellano's protest have an impact on immigration policy?

Yes
7% 15 votes
No
92% 173 votes

Total Votes: 188

Arellano spoke of the pain of separation Thursday afternoon, hours after sending her ambassador to the world -- her 7-year-old son, Saul -- on his fifth trip to spread her word.

He flew to Miami to join a protest against raids at Swift & Co. meat processor that netted almost 1,300 undocumented workers Tuesday.

In the last four months Arellano herself has missed her son's parent-teacher conferences, the opening of Mel Gibson's film ''Apocalypto,'' and has gained 10 pounds from being limited to her small apartment above the church.

Elvira is good at teaching her son how to be a criminal at such a young age.

"I'm here," said Arellano, speaking in Spanish, "and here I'll stay until the government reforms laws that tear families apart."

Good Lord, the lady is flounting her illegal status and crimes, she is openly daring ICE to come and get her! What the heck is the holdup. Isn't it about time ICE put an immediate halt to her game?

I know many of us, me included, have contacted ICE regarding Elvira - why aren't they listening to us? Are we being drowned out by the pro-illegal immigrant special interest groups? You would think our side would be more convincing and compelling, especially since we have the rule of law on our side. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of being ignored by our federal government when I'm in the right!

Nobody is tearing families apart. They are free to return to Mexico where they belong, but they are not welcome to stay here. As far as I'm concerend, Saul is just as illegal as his pathetic mother.

How long till the people who go to that church begin to wonder if breaking the law is the best way to set an example

MW wrote:

I know many of us, me included, have contacted ICE regarding Elvira - why aren't they listening to us? Are we being drowned out by the pro-illegal immigrant special interest groups? You would think our side would be more convincing and compelling, especially since we have the rule of law on our side. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of being ignored by our federal government when I'm in the right!

I think the government is picking their battles in this illegal immigration fiasco instead of declaring war on the whole mess and that is why we need to be relentless in our pursuit of what is right.

Originally Posted by April

MW wrote:

I know many of us, me included, have contacted ICE regarding Elvira - why aren't they listening to us? Are we being drowned out by the pro-illegal immigrant special interest groups? You would think our side would be more convincing and compelling, especially since we have the rule of law on our side. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of being ignored by our federal government when I'm in the right!

I think the government is picking their battles in this illegal immigration fiasco instead of declaring war on the whole mess and that is why we need to be relentless in our pursuit of what is right.

Yes I think you are right, what it needs to do is declare war on the whole mess (Nation wide) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until America is clean of illegals! Nothing less!