More on the "mother of the year."
---------------------------

Son of Activist to Visit Deported Mother

Friday August 31, 2007 4:46 AM

CHICAGO (AP) - The 8-year-old son of a deported illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year plans to travel to Mexico on Friday to visit his mother and try to renew his U.S. passport.

Saul Arellano, a U.S. citizen, will visit his mother Elvira in Mexico for several days, the Rev. Walter Coleman said Thursday.

Elvira Arellano was in the U.S. illegally for several years before taking sanctuary at Chicago's Adalberto United Methodist Church, where she lived with her son for a year in defiance of a deportation order.

She left the church earlier this month to attend rallies in Los Angeles and was arrested by immigration authorities and deported to Tijuana, Mexico, hours later.

Arellano, 32, has said her son will remain in Chicago so he can attend school and she will stay in Mexico to continue fighting for others in her situation.

``We want to reunite them,'' said Coleman, Adalberto United's pastor. ``They need to be together right now.''

Saul cannot renew his U.S. passport without his mother present, Coleman said.

Arellano, who has become a symbol for illegal immigrant parents with children who are U.S. citizens, has asked the Mexican government to help with a visa so she can enter the United States.

``They're going to continue to struggle,'' Coleman said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/s ... 57,00.html