Church Provides Sanctuary

[mrbowler]

This is crazy-why should someone who breaks the law be provided protection?? I say if anything that the laws need to nip this, and start taking away tax exempt status from church officials who harbor law breakers.

Illegal immigrant turns to church for sanctuary:
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Immigration activist Elvira Arellano sought refuge Tuesday in a small storefront church, just blocks from her apartment, hoping that the sanctity of a holy place would shield her from deportation.

Arellano, a 31-year-old illegal immigrant, was supposed to report to immigration authorities Tuesday morning but instead went to her pastor, the Rev. Walter "Slim" Coleman, a longtime social activist and minister at Adalberto United Methodist Church, 2176 W. Division.

"I knew my church wouldn't abandon me in my moment of desperation," Arellano said in Spanish

Flanked by Coleman, formerly a driving force behind the Heart of Uptown Coalition that fought to empower poor people in the North Side neighborhood, and Emma Lozano, director of Centro Sin Fronteras (Center Without Borders), who staged a five-day hunger strike to bring a new school to the Little Village neighborhood, Arellano told 30 assembled supporters she had no fear.

"I'm strong, I've learned from Rosa Parks -- I'm not going to go to the back of the bus. The law is wrong."

By Tuesday evening, Arellano faced a long night of looking over her shoulder every time the bell jingled as the church's front door opened. She planned to tuck her 7-year-old son, Saul, into the twin bed of the tiny room above the church the two will share until the standoff is resolved.

"We'll stay here as long as necessary, until Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Dick Durbin introduce my private bill and approve my extension," Arellano said. She spent much of her day asking supporters to flood the senators' offices with demands for an intervention.

Both senators' staffs, however, said the only real solution to Arellano's problem is comprehensive immigration reform. "Frankly there are so many other people in a similar situation and we just cannot offer a private release bill to everyone," said Durbin spokeswoman Christina Angarola.

Arellano, feeling depleted from the stress and a cold, lamented that if she had to go back to Mexico she'd take her son with her, but that she was certain it wouldn't come to that.

"This village is raising its voice and making itself heard," said Arellano. "Our people are not the same as they were before -- we put [legislators] in office and the registered voters of this community can take them out."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts said the government considers Arellano a fugitive who will be arrested in the future regardless of her location.

"We've been working with her attorney and immigration to make this as smooth as possible, but Mrs. Arellano has taken another path," Counts said. "We have the authority to arrest anyone in violation of U.S. law anywhere in the United States."

Meanwhile, Arellano reported a steady stream of supporters bringing food and offers of clothing and supplies for her and her son during their stay.

And she waits. "If they come for me in this place they'll have to face God. We have video cameras and we'll show how the federals violate the house of God."

[mrbowler]

Bump

[katlnhats]

Hi,
Totally ridiculous is an understatement. Facing God will not be who those who come to get her - it's her that will have to face God for being an illegal and staying in His House!
How the Pastor could have allowed it is beyond me, though they are taught not to judge, but I'm pretty sure that they're also taught not to break the law too!
How does she have an attorney, being an illegal? What a crock!
Kat

[mrbowler]

Here is a little background on Arellano:

"The 31-year-old woman was arrested in 2002 during an immigration sweep at O'Hare International Airport. Homeland Security officials noted that Arellano had already been deported once, in 1997, and that she had a criminal conviction for Social Security fraud." This conviction makes her ineligible for U. S. citizenship"

"After being in this country illegally for 7 years and after giving birth to an anchor baby, Elvira Arellano would at least know English. Apparently not"

[katlnhats]

Easy fix. Deport her, but first either get her out of that church, or send it along with her!

Kat

[mrbowler]

I think it has been at least 3 weeks, and still no enforcement.

If this were you or I breaking the law we would be arrested even if we were in a church.

[mrbowler]

Any updates on the status?? Or has this faded from the media ?

[katlnhats]

As far as I've seen, it's faded from the Media, but I'll bet you she got away with it. Dang, if I'm ever in trouble, I'm going to a church and say, "No Habla Anglais" to anyone who comes to get me!
Talk about UNfairness? This is kind of the ultimate.

Kat

[mrbowler]

Originally Posted by katlnhats

As far as I've seen, it's faded from the Media, but I'll bet you she got away with it. Dang, if I'm ever in trouble, I'm going to a church and say, "No Habla Anglais" to anyone who comes to get me!
Talk about UNfairness? This is kind of the ultimate.

Kat

Interesting-so if she has a baby in the U.S. it creates a anchor baby in which it allows a illegal alien anchor adult-to funny
Need to change the anchor baby laws or when he becomes a legal adult he would be allowed back in legally.

Here is latest info that I located off Chicago Tribune(need to register).

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The U.S. government and Elvira Arellano's legal team escalated their skirmish Thursday over an unusual federal lawsuit contending that to deport the undocumented immigrant would violate her young son's rights.

Attorneys for 7-year-old Saul Arellano say his constitutional rights would be violated if he is forced to return to Mexico with his mother even though he is a U.S. citizen by birth.

Prosecutors detailed their counterarguments in a motion filed Thursday to dismiss the case, insisting that Saul would not lose legal rights by his mother's deportation.

Arellano has taken refuge in a Humboldt Park church since defying a government deportation order Aug. 15, creating a standoff that has generated international notoriety.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said Saul Arellano's lawsuit raises "novel issues." Normally, illegal immigrants contest their own deportation orders instead of having their U.S. citizen children become plaintiffs, experts say.

Legal observers and advocates on both sides of the immigration debate are closely watching the lawsuit, which could affect the 3.1 million U.S. citizen children with at least one parent living here illegally. Some say the lawsuit is a long shot but could have political benefits.

"The courtroom is only one arena in which this lawsuit is going to play out. There is also the political arena," said Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church, where Arellano has taken refuge.

Arellano, a well-known activist for undocumented immigrants, and the government have been in a stalemate since she took refuge at the church. Arellano said she is not leaving the church. Immigration officials say they don't plan to enter the church to get her even though she is a fugitive.

For now, Arellano's hopes rest on Saul, who had already taken center stage at sympathetic rallies, quietly playing with a Spiderman action figure or a TV microphone cord.

Arellano said she does not want to take Saul to Mexico because she fears that he will return to the United States as she did: with no knowledge of English and little formal education. Arellano said she has never seriously considered leaving her son behind either.

Federal prosecutors, in their court filings Thursday, said allowing Arellano to stay in the U.S. because of her son would grant her a benefit that Congress never intended. They implied that Arellano was hypocritical in turning to the court after ignoring the government's orders.

"Ms. Arellano should not be permitted to ignore the law and yet use the law through the means of a legal fiction by challenging the order through her son," prosecutors argued.

Prosecutors said they considered but rejected a plan to grant Arellano a temporary stay of deportation while her son's case is heard.

Joseph Mathews, attorney for Saul, said Arellano had been willing to wear an ankle bracelet or observe a curfew if she could be protected from deportation while the case is heard.

"I am disappointed in [the government's] decision, but I understand it," Mathews said. "They have a job to do, and they are doing it."

Prosecutors said legal precedents work against Arellano, and many experts tended to agree.

David Martin, a law professor at the University of Virginia and former counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said he would be surprised if a judge agrees with the boy's claim.

"Some people's knee-jerk reaction is that you can't force a U.S.-citizen child to live somewhere else," Martin said. "This isn't really forcing him. Technically, they aren't deporting the child."

Muzaffar Chishti, director of the non-profit Migration Policy Institute's office at New York University School of Law, agreed that Saul's rights would be violated only if the government was ordering him to leave. In this case, Arellano is choosing to take him to Mexico rather than leave him in the U.S. with a guardian.

"It's a tragic human case but not a very compelling legal issue," Chishti said.

Even if Arellano's strategy doesn't hold up in court, some legal observers think her lawsuit could have political value in publicizing the situations of families like hers.

"This reflects the fact that our immigration laws are not accomplishing what they set out to, which is family unification," said Mary Meg McCarthy, director of the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center.

Critics say Arellano's rhetoric and legal tactics show how cynically many illegal immigrants use their U.S. citizen children as protection from their lawbreaking.

For some illegal immigrants, their children could eventually provide a legal window. When the children turn 21, they can petition for legal status for their parents living here illegally although the process is not easy.

Those children gained U.S. citizenship through the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 mainly to reverse pre-Civil War legal barriers against African-Americans. The amendment states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

A growing number of congressmen want to strip the citizenship rights of the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) sponsored a bill last year to change the practice and received nearly 100 co-sponsors, almost all Republicans.

[katlnhats]

This isn't a "tragic situation". Why does anyone think these people have kid after kid in the US, while they, themselves are illegal? So they won't get deported, that's why.
Send her, him, the church and that pastor back, problem solved. I think we need to set a precident here...

Kat

[mrbowler]

Originally Posted by katlnhats

This isn't a "tragic situation". Why does anyone think these people have kid after kid in the US, while they, themselves are illegal? So they won't get deported, that's why.
Send her, him, the church and that pastor back, problem solved. I think we need to set a precident here...

Kat

This is my pet peeve with the Democrats, and Bush. Lack of enforcement/encouragement to break existing laws. Just ticks me off when I hear folks saying that we can't do anything about it because it is just to big of a problem. Hey it took many years for it to reach this level-so I can live with a long-term solution..ie employer enforcement. The fence which was recently approved(we shall see if it gets funding) I guess is better then nothing, and I believe the local laws could be expanded on a national level-as always you need federal working with state level to get a effective response.

Any truth to rumors that Arellano is pregnant?

[mrbowler]

Kat-Well now they have the 7 year old out stumping for change. I wonder since his mother is holed up who is legally responsible for watching the child, and how many days of school has he missed? Doesn't seem like the Bush Adm. is to interested in enforcing law breakers. With the new congress the Dems & Bush might be able to push thru something with Immigration reform.

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"Mexico's lawmakers answered his plea with a resolution calling on the Bush administration to suspend the deportation of Elvira Arellano and any other illegal immigrant parents of U.S. citizens.

If the American government agrees, it would "create a precedent that will benefit more than 4.9 million children who have been born in the United States and whose parents live under the threat of deportation," said Mexican congressman Jose Jacques"

"U.S. officials say there is no right to sanctuary in a church under U.S. law, and nothing to prevent them from arresting Elvira Arellano, who has lived at the church since August 15, the day she was supposed to surrender for deportation.

So far, they have not moved to seize her"

[katlnhats]

Argh! This is still going on? I have no understanding as to "why" they don't seize her, send her back, "especially" if she's pregnant! I don't know if she is or not, but if she is, let her have THAT baby in Mexico!
As to the seven year old, I think he belongs back in Mexico with his Mommy. It will take years to fix, but it'll take a heck of a lot longer if we don't start doing it!

Kat

[mrbowler]

Originally Posted by katlnhats

Argh! This is still going on? I have no understanding as to "why" they don't seize her, send her back, "especially" if she's pregnant! I don't know if she is or not, but if she is, let her have THAT baby in Mexico!
As to the seven year old, I think he belongs back in Mexico with his Mommy. It will take years to fix, but it'll take a heck of a lot longer if we don't start doing it!

Kat

Well they finally snagged her, and sent her back after 1 year-although I find it interesting that they wouldn't do it while she was holed up.

Don't understand why Javier should be angry-this should never take this long, but at least I'm glad that at least it appears that Bush is enforcing the law after his guest worker deal went down. She even says that her country is Mexico

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"We are sad, but at the same time we are angry," said Javier Rodriguez, a Chicago immigration activist who worked with her. "How dare they arrest this woman?"