Thread: 4 months in church: 'I'll stay'

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1741 ... 15.article

4 months in church: 'I'll stay'
Son, 7, off to Miami while immigrant mom stays put

December 15, 2006
BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter
Elvira Arellano, the 31-year-old illegal immigrant who claimed sanctuary in a Northwest Side church to avoid deportation, marks her fourth month of protest today.

"I'm here," said Arellano, speaking in Spanish, "and here I'll stay until the government reforms laws that tear families apart."

Arellano spoke of the pain of separation Thursday afternoon, hours after sending her ambassador to the world -- her 7-year-old son, Saul -- on his fifth trip to spread her word.

He flew to Miami to join a protest against raids at Swift & Co. meat processor that netted almost 1,300 undocumented workers Tuesday.

Saul, scheduled to return to Chicago today, has missed about eight days of school, Arellano said, "but he works with a tutor and faxes in his homework when it's due."

In the last four months Arellano herself has missed her son's parent-teacher conferences, the opening of Mel Gibson's film ''Apocalypto,'' and has gained 10 pounds from being limited to her small apartment above the church.

But the raids stirred her desire to walk out of Adalberto United Methodist Church.

'I'm very positive'
Arellano spent the day fielding phone calls in response to the Florida raids. She works full time for Centro Sin Fronteras, an immigrant rights group, using a fax machine and computer in her living room, but she wanted to be out on the streets.

"I wanted to protest, to gather people and go, but I couldn't," Arellano said.

She faces deportation and is ineligible for U.S. citizenship for having been deported once before, re-entering the country illegally, and then working here under a false Social Security number.

Arellano previously secured stays of deportation with help from Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama. She hopes that a bill sponsored by Rep. Luis Gutierrez will grant her another extension, but it has not moved ahead in the last few months. A federal lawsuit filed on her son's behalf to keep her in the country was dismissed.

"I'm very positive," Arellano said, "and I pray to God I won't be deported.''

Tim Counts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Arellano will be removed at the appropriate place and time.

"We estimate there are more than 660,000 fugitives [in the United States], and she is one of them," he said.

ecepeda@suntimes.com

Why don't the FEDs shut this woman up once and for all and deport her and her son's A**?

She is becoming a spokeswoman for all the other illegals, she is using OUR niceness against US.

Deport her.

Originally Posted by jonhaloi

Why don't the FEDs shut this woman up once and for all and deport her and her son's A**?

She is becoming a spokeswoman for all the other illegals, she is using OUR niceness against US.

Deport her.

Yes I agree 100%. It is plain pure insanity that this woman (criminal) has not been deported!
Maybe Americans need to start running to Churches and demand sanctuary from this criminal invasion, for goodness knows we are not getting it from those in Washington!

She gained ten lbs. I'll think of that the next time a church asks for a donation. I'm helping them feed a criminal! I think not!

Then there is that interesting reference to her being in her living room. It sonds like she is living in the church rectory not the church sanctuary.

You are correct. It must be the church rectory as she claims its a small apartment but it must be part of the church. That shouldn't matter and they should get her. As for her being upset about deportations and ICE raids in Florida. too bad. They are illegal and in Florida many illegals are really running scared.

How much longer do we have to endure this criminal loser?
DEPORT HER ILLEGAL BUTT NOW! COME ON ICE, GET OFF YOUR DUFFS AND GET HER THE HELL OUT NOW....

Originally Posted by Crusader01

Originally Posted by jonhaloi

Why don't the FEDs shut this woman up once and for all and deport her and her son's A**?

She is becoming a spokeswoman for all the other illegals, she is using OUR niceness against US.

Deport her.

Yes I agree 100%. It is plain pure insanity that this woman (criminal) has not been deported!
Maybe Americans need to start running to Churches and demand sanctuary from this criminal invasion, for goodness knows we are not getting it from those in Washington!

DEPORT, DEPORT, DEPORT! I am so sick of her and this whole story. What in the h*** are they waiting for?

They are dam well waiting for her to get out of that church. She is getting frustrated it seems so it shouldn't take much longer for her to go out for a breath of fresh air. She claimed that she is upset that ICE captured illegals in Florida, well she should be more upset now as ICE nailed more of them in Miami today.

Do the legal American's need to go into the church and get her out? Our government isn't doing anything to stop this criminal activist or her after-birth.