Thread: Elvira going to Washington September 12

Immigration activist to leave sanctuary

SOPHIA TAREEN
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO — A woman who has come to personify the struggles of illegal immigrant parents says that for the first time in a year she will venture beyond the walls of the church that has protected her from deportation.

Elvira Arellano took refuge inside Aldalberto United Methodist Church on Aug. 15, 2006, and has lived there on the second floor with her 8-year-old son Saul, who is a U.S. citizen.

She hasn't left the church for fear of being sent back to Mexico and separated from her son.

She was to announce Wednesday that she plans a Sept. 12 trip to Washington to lobby Congress for immigration reform, according to the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of the church and longtime Chicago political activist.

It's not clear how she'll get there, but she likely won't be flying, Coleman told The Associated Press Tuesday. He and others worry Arellano will be arrested, but she plans to go anyway.

"I will go with my Bible and my son and I will read to him from the Holy Scriptures as I do every day," Arellano said in a statement sent Tuesday to The AP. "If this government would separate me from my son, let them do it in front of the men and women who have the responsibility to fix this broken law and uphold the principles of human dignity."

Whether Arellano will continue her sanctuary at the church is unclear.

The 32-year-old says she has been too comfortable there and needs to "join the struggle" outside.

In the past year, Arellano has reignited an interest in a sanctuary movement across the U.S. with her continued public defiance and her belief that the U.S. knowingly exploits illegal immigrants.

But she's also drawn criticism from many who say she is part of an orchestrated movement and exploits her U.S.-born son by having him speak at news conferences.

There is no doubt, however, of her reach.

"She's a household figure at this point and her story is well known because people can relate to it," said Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Arellano came illegally to the U.S. in 1997. She was deported shortly thereafter, but returned and worked different jobs, including childcare. She moved to Illinois in 2000 because she had friends in the Chicago area and took a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport.

She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and later convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August, but asked instead to take refuge at her church.

She has gone on hunger strikes, written dozens of letters and sent her son with other activists to Mexico and Washington to talk to legislators. She's been interviewed by reporters from across the globe.

But she says she doesn't consider herself a symbol.

"I am a single mother who has a child who's an American citizen," she said recently in Spanish.

Arellano said she has a simple goal: to stay with Saul, who she said should be guaranteed rights as an American citizen.

"He knows this as his country," she said.

Arellano said her decision to live at the church has come with sacrifices. She said she can't take Saul for after-school activities or pick up his report card. The family has no contact with Saul's father.

At times she has feared for her and Saul's safety, she said.

In December, neighborhood residents said they saw U.S. marshals taking photos of the church. Federal agents denied the allegations, but immigration activists took up 24-hour vigils outside.

Arellano has no case pending to become a legal resident.

"I'm hoping for an immigration bill to pass," she said.

Arellano knows she could be arrested during next month's planned trip. If that happens, she said, "they'd find me praying."

http://www.theolympian.com/national/story/190307.html

Hmmm? I hope that ICE is waiting for her!!!

Y'all realize that this is a fundraiser for Elvira.

What an attention seeking idiot! She better not be let into the Halls of Congress with her fake ID.

Lady, it's your own fault your son is mixed up in this. You shouldn't have had him because are illegally in this country. Sal is an exploited child.

Dixie

I am a single mother who has a child who's an American citizen," she said recently in Spanish.

Arellano said she has a simple goal: to stay with Saul, who she said should be guaranteed rights as an American citizen.

You can't have it both ways. Either you love your son enough to take him with you or you leave him here to usurp his anchor baby status rights. You on the other hand are a convicted illegal alien felon who needs to get out of this country and go home.

If ICE does not pick up, then Congress needs to refuse to see her like they do us. The security people on the hill should pick up as soon as sets foot there. Enough is enough.

Time to counter Elvira with some good old phone calling and faxing the lkes she has never seen.
Put Sept. 12 on your calender.