Thread: No immigrant showdown at church

Source: No immigrant showdown imminent

August 19, 2006

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA AND JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporters


















A showdown that appeared imminent earlier this week between immigration officers and activist Elvira Arellano at the Humboldt Park church where she's staying to avoid deportation may not happen after all.

"We have no plans to enter the church to arrest Mrs. Arellano," a government official speaking on condition of anonymity said Friday.

Arellano, 31, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, has been staying with her 7-year-old son at Adalberto United Methodist Church, 2176 W. Division, since Tuesday -- the day she was to report to immigration authorities.

Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have said the government considers Arellano a fugitive who will be arrested regardless of her location.

But Friday, at least one official backed away from earlier suggestions that she would be arrested soon.

"We have other priorities," the official said. "She's one of more than 500,000 [fugitives] and we'll apprehend her in the future."

Both Arellano and her pastor, the Rev. Walter "Slim" Coleman, said Friday they hadn't heard that firsthand and were not resting any easier.

"Until I get an extension of my case, immigration has the right to either get me here or somewhere else," said Arellano, adding that she planned to stay at the storefront church "as long as it takes."

Church: No limit on her stay



Coleman said he was setting no limits on how long Arellano can live at the church.

"We're in God's time," he said. "God's time has no beginning or no end."

Arellano first came to Chicago in 1997 but was soon detained and deported. She says she crossed the border again on foot just three days later. This time, she wasn't caught.

After spending three years in Oregon, she moved to Chicago in 2000. She worked on a cleaning crew at O'Hare until 2002, when she was arrested, and subsequently convicted, for working under a fake Social Security number.

In the years since her 2002 arrest, she has become a vocal proponent for immigration reform and is president of United Latino Family, a group that lobbies for families that could be split by deportation.

With the help of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and community groups, Arellano has been able to get three one-year extensions to stay in the United States, the last of which expired this month.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/...-deport19.html

"We're in God's time," he said. "God's time has no beginning or no end."

It takes a village to raise an idiot!

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Please forgive me for not being perfectly informed on Roman history, but it goes something like this.

When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he violated the lawful authority of his office and it signified the end of the rule of law in the Roman Republic. Once the rule of law was gone, the days of the Republic were numbered. Nobody stepped forth to re-assert the rule of law and soon it became the Roman Empire. All of Western history since that time can be seen as a struggle to reassert the rule of law.

There should have been no hesitation in the Arellano case. Go into the church and arrest the person who has violated multiple laws, including federal document fraud. It is remarkable to see an entire government apparatus stopped in its tracks by this situation.

What we see today is a disturbing defeat for the rule of law and a step towards the end of our own republic.

Some people may think that the actions of some illegal immigrant with a sixth grade education have no significance. Consider that we live in a society where any child has a chance of becoming president. Consider that you cannot count on having the people serving in high government positions respect and obey the rule of law unless they come from a society in which the general population respects and obeys the rule of law. This Arellano fiasco indicates that too many people in the general population just do not get it. They are ignorant of the rule of law, or are not willing to risk even a hair on their head to uphold the rule of law.