Thread: A test for enforcement of our immigration laws

Will our immigration laws be enforced or will our Immigration officials bow to the pro-illegal crowd? I'm betting they will bow to the pro-illegal crowd! If they do we will never win this battle with the illegals!!!


Immigrant Takes Refuge in Chicago Church
Aug 16 8:36 PM US/Eastern
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By DON BABWIN
Associated Press Writer


CHICAGO



Immigration activists around the country are taking up the cause of a single mother who invoked the ancient principle of sanctuary and took refuge in a Chicago church rather than submit to deportation to Mexico.
Elvira Arellano, 31, was holed up for a second day Wednesday at Aldalberto United Methodist Church with the support of the congregation's pastor. With her was her 7-year-old son, Saul, an American citizen.



Federal officials said there is no right to sanctuary in a church under U.S. law and nothing to prevent them from arresting her. But they would not say exactly what they planned to do, or when.

The protest raised the spectacle of agents barging into a church and dragging her out.

"She is the face of the movement," said Emma Lozano, executive director of the Chicago immigration-rights group Centro Sin Fronteras, who was at the church with Arellano.

In Phoenix, Martin Manteca of Mi Familia Vota said Hispanic activist groups were organizing a vigil in her support. Lozano said an event also was scheduled in Detroit.

Arellano also has attracted attention from political officials including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who has voiced his support. And Dolores Huerta, a leader in the effort to organize the nation's farm workers, plans to come to Chicago to show her support, according to Huerta's daughter, Alicia.

A few dozen supporters gathered at the storefront church, sitting in the pews and praying for Arellano. But the doors were not barricaded, and there were no apparent efforts to fortify the church.

Arellano, who is president of United Latino Family, which lobbies for families that could be split by deportation, had been ordered to appear at the immigration office in Chicago at 9 a.m. Tuesday, but instead went to the church, where she is an active member.

She said that if authorities want her, they will have to come and get her.

"My son is a U.S. citizen," she told reporters. "He doesn't want me to go anywhere, so I'm going to stay with him."

Pastor Walter Coleman said his congregation offered Arellano refuge after praying about her plight. Coleman said he does not believe Arellano should have to choose between leaving her son behind or removing him from his home.

"She represents the voice of the undocumented, and we think it's our obligation, our responsibility, to make a stage for that voice to be heard," he said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said there is nothing preventing the U.S. government from arresting her at the church.

"Ms. Arellano willfully violated U.S. immigration laws and is now facing the consequences of her actions by failing to report to immigration authorities," said agency spokeswoman Gail Montenegro. "We will arrest and deport her as required by law at an appropriate time and place."

Legal experts agreed that the traditional doctrine that people are protected from arrest in a church is not recognized under U.S. law.

But Joel Fetzer, associate professor of political science at Pepperdine University in California, said: "If the government comes in, it's going to look very jack-booted fascistic. It would look very bad."

Churches and synagogues also tried to offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants escaping civil war in El Salvador during the 1980s, a civil disobedience activity known as the Sanctuary movement. Susan Gzesh, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago who assisted the churches and synagogues that offered sanctuary, said she does not believe federal authorities ever went into the churches to make arrests.

Arellano illegally crossed into the United States in 1997 and was deported shortly afterward. She returned within days, living for three years in Oregon before moving to Chicago in 2000. Arrested two years later at O'Hare Airport, where she was working as a cleaning woman, she was convicted of working under a false Social Security number and ordered to appear at the immigration office in Chicago.

Activists said her desire to come here to work and provide a better life for herself and her son illustrates why they believe the nation's immigration laws must be changed.

"She is a leader in the movement who has made the issue of family unity the key issue in the question of the undocumented," her pastor said. "That is the most sympathetic issue there is."

Others are not so sure.

"I don't think the immigration debate should be focused on a woman who ... disregards an order," said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, a Chicago lawyer and president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Tapia-Ruano said she worries that Arellano's story will be used by extremists on both sides of the issue and cited as an example "of how illegals come here to be in flagrant disregard of our laws, and I don't think that's true."

___

Associated Press writer Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this report.

But Joel Fetzer, associate professor of political science at Pepperdine University in California, said: "If the government comes in, it's going to look very jack-booted fascistic. It would look very bad."

I personally do not care what it LOOKS like.....the law is the law. She has been deported previously and knew it was likely she would be deported again yet she CHOSE to return.

This minister should also be arrested.
Let's bring up all of her crimes.

1. being here illegaly once (Misdemeanor)
2. admitting to identity fraud (felony)
3. being here illegaly a second time after being deported. (felony)
4. ignoring deportation order. (felony)

Wound't the minister's help constitute aiding and abetting a criminal? By all counts of the law she is a now a fugative.

If I was in Chicago I think a citizen's arrest would be happening...There isn't anything illegal about apprehending a federal fugitive is there?

Originally Posted by Sailor

[b]
Pastor Walter Coleman said his congregation offered Arellano refuge after praying about her plight. Coleman said he does not believe Arellano should have to choose between leaving her son behind or removing him from his home.

"She represents the voice of the undocumented, and we think it's our obligation, our responsibility, to make a stage for that voice to be heard," he said.

This isn't your son's home. Both of you need to return to mexico. We don't want you to be separated, we want both of you to leave.

IT IS ILLEGAL FOR NONPROFIT OR RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS to knowingly assist an employer to violate employment sanctions, REGARDLESS OF CLAIMS THAT THEIR CONVICTIONS REQUIRE THEM TO ASSIST ALIENS. Harboring or aiding illegal aliens is not protected by the First Amendment.

Well, I think it would be racist of the Government to apprehend her. (Just kidding) Who cares? This had gotten so out of hand, now we have our religous figures getting in the way of the law of the land. Here is my take on this...since the church has stood in the way, no longer is there separation of church and state (not guaranteed by the constitution by the way). In my estimation, since the church is no longer acting as a church of faith, but standing in the way of the law, whatever jurisdiction has custody of that land should cease it and allocate it for some government function or building. The people inside allowing the illegal refuge should be arrested and tried by a jury of peers. The woman should be deported...period.

there gettig desperate

Originally Posted by NoIllegalsAllowed

If I was in Chicago I think a citizen's arrest would be happening...There isn't anything illegal about apprehending a federal fugitive is there?

Yes, there is. Citizens may not enforce administrative, federal, or commercial law. Citizen arrest was a product of the Common Law. Our legal system enforced by most of our courts is no longer promulgated under the Common Law, though the Common Law still exists underneath the statutory overlay. Basically, in order to affect a citizen arrest, you would have to demonstrate that a violation of the Common Law has occurred and you would have to justify the arrest under the Common Law rather than by statutory law, even if a statutory law "crime" appears identical to an underlying Common Law crime. A crime under the Common Law requires either an injured victim, an act of turpitude, or some other commonly recognized affront to public decency or public safety. You would also have to turn the apprehended criminal in to a real peace officer capable of enforcing the Common Law, which would preclude the various police departments (which are statutory enforcement agencies). That would mean that you would deal directly with your county Sheriff.

"She is the face of the movement," said Emma Lozano, executive director of the Chicago immigration-rights group Centro Sin Fronteras, who was at the church with Arellano

You got that right mister, she was deported once and came back again and is now looking for special treatment for breaking our laws again. Yes that is the face of this movement by illegal aliens to think they can demand amnesty in our country when they are not entitled to anything.