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Black religious leaders express support for Arellano

Associated Press
Published October 22, 2006, 9:15 AM CDT


CHICAGO -- Nation of Islam Minister Ishmael Muhammad and several other black religious figures expressed their support for a Mexican woman who has defied a federal deportation order.

Muhammad, who was raised in Mexico, pledged his continued support to activist Elvira Arellano and other undocumented immigrants, saying immigration opponents are working to create tension among blacks and Hispanics in the U.S.



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"We stand here to lift our voices in solidarity against the many dissenting voices," he said Saturday after he and others met with Arellano inside Adalberto United Methodist Church.

Arellano has been living with her son in a church on Chicago's West Side since mid-August when she was scheduled to surrender to authorities for deportation. The single mother's fight to stay in the country has caught the attention of activists on both sides of the issue.

Arellano said her son had been frightened earlier Saturday by a group of people opposed to her stance who demonstrated outside the church.

"They were shouting hateful words, racist words," she said.

A barricade strands in front of the church to guard against unwanted visitors.

Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan's assistant minister at Mosque Maryam in Chicago, is a son of National of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. Addressing a crowd outside the church in both English and Spanish, he challenged the perception that undocumented workers are competing with blacks for the same jobs.

"Don't buy into that game," said Muhammad, who has been identified as a possible successor to Farrakhan. "We know very well that the jobs that they are currently occupying are not jobs that we are even applying for, or seeking."