Thread: 8-year-old Saul Arellano's Houston visit

More child exploitation:

8-year-old Saul Arellano's Houston visit

For the Chronicle/Gary Fountain
http://blogs.chron.com/immigration/

Eight-year-old Saul Arellano flew into Houston on Wednesday evening with the pastor and wife duo who are now serving as his guardians. Look for the story in Thursday's Chronicle. Elvira Arellano was initially supposed to visit Houston on Wednesday as she made her cross-country campaign en route to D.C., but her deportation, obviously, kept her from coming. But the visit was still a go for the Rev. Walter Coleman and his wife, Emma Lozano, of Chicago's Adalberto United Methodist Church. The couple and young Saul visited Houston in April to talk about family separation because of deportation. During the press conference at the CRECEN office on Hillcroft in southwest Houston on Thursday, Coleman and Lozano talked about why Elvira decided to leave now (because of Congress' inaction on the immigration issue and stepped-up enforcement and crackdown on employers who hire the undocumented) and the importance of passing reform before the next presidential election. They said her deportation was a resurrection of the immigration debate, and that Elvira has put a face to the many immigrants who live here anonymously. The couple has a bilingual MO for pressers, where Coleman says the message in English and Lozano is on the heels of each sentence translating it into Spanish. Saul didn't want to talk to the media and sat next to the couple while they talked. This is what I wrote from his April visit:

His interest of the day was getting in playtime at Chuck E. Cheese's, but he repeated his simple message during two forums in Houston on Sunday: "I want to tell President Bush to stop the raids and deportations so my mother and other families can stay here in the United States," the boy said in Spanish before returning to a comfortable seat beneath a table in front of a crowded room.

Houston was their only stop on the way back to Chicago. Maria Jimenez, who has for a long time been an immigrant advocate in Houston, said she has known Lozano for decades and that CRECEN has been very supportive of Arellano. Jimenez was in Chicago last week when Arellano announced she was leaving the church.

His interest of the day was getting in playtime at Chuck E. Cheese's, but he repeated his simple message during two forums in Houston on Sunday: "I want to tell President Bush to stop the raids and deportations so my mother and other families can stay here in the United States," the boy said in Spanish before returning to a comfortable seat beneath a table in front of a crowded room.

Hmm . . . notice he is no longer parroting her lies of us separating their families. Apparently, the criticism with regard to the fact that she deliberately left him behind and that no one was stopping her from taking her anchor with her when deported hit the mark.

Sounds to me like the preacher was trying to be a defense lawyer by coaching and leading the witness.

why is this kid no in school????

Who's paying for the flights/hotel rooms etc? And DUH him for saying that in Spanish, talk about hurting your cause.