The group below is calling for an economic boycott on Sept. 12. We should save as many purchases possible for that day. We need to spend, spend spend on the 12th.


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Illegal immigrant to leave church haven


Tribune photo by Abel Uribe, August 15, 2007

Rev. Marco Cardenas leads Elvira Arellano, her son Saúl, and other activists in prayer Wednesday before giving a news conference commemorating her year of taking refuge in Adalberto United Methodist Church, on the West Side.

By Antonio Olivo | Tribune staff reporter
2:18 PM CDT, August 15, 2007

Elvira Arellano, the illegal Mexican immigrant who has avoided deportation for a year by taking refuge inside a Humboldt Park church, said today she plans to leave her sanctuary to participate in a new push for immigration reform in Washington.

At a news conference at the West Side church where she has been living for exactly a year, Arellano said she intends to use her status as a figurehead for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to leverage support for more lenient legislative reforms.

After the Senate failed to pass a bipartisan bill in June that would have offered legalization for undocumented immigrants, the federal government has stepped up enforcement through more workplace raids, higher penalties against employers who hire illegal workers and a more concerted effort to go after fugitives like Arellano who have already been ordered to leave the country.

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"If [immigration authorities] want to arrest me over there, in front of Congress, in front of the White House or in front of the Senate, and deport me in front of all those people that make the changes in the law, it's fine," Arellano, 32, earlier told the Spanish-language, Tribune Co.-owned newspaper Hoy while inside the Aldaberto United Methodist Church on Division Street. "But I'm not going to stay quiet, nor wait for them to come to arrest me and deport me. I have to fight and this is part of the fight."

It was not immediately clear when she would leave the church. She said today she would be on the Washington Mall for a prayer and fasting vigil Sept. 12. Speaking in Spanish and English, she called for a national economic boycott on that day to help bring attention to the plight of illegal immigrants.

Asked whether she is challenging Congress to pass more lenient legislation, she responded: "I'm not seeking to challenge anybody, only to shed light on this problem that has affected millions."

Today marks one year since Arellano and her son, Saúl, 8, moved into the tiny church from their former home in Pilsen. Arellano had been arrested in 2002 during an immigration raid at O'Hare International Airport, where she cleaned airplanes. She was convicted of using a fake Social Security number after the raid.

"If my son were 21, and if this government still did not want me to stay in this country, I would have said to him, 'Son, you are old enough to make your own way and make your own decisions,' and I would have packed my suitcases and gone back to Mexico. But he is not yet an adult and I have the responsibility to protect and prepare him for the life in this country that he has a right to as a U.S. citizen."

Immigration officials, who have not been legally prohibited from arresting Arellano during her stay in the church, have been reluctant to comment about the case, saying only that she is considered a fugitive.