http://media.npr.org/blog/aug/18/Arellano.jpgImmigration Activist to Leave Sanctuary
By SOPHIA TAREEN
The Associated Press
Washington Post
Wednesday, August 15, 2007; 2:59 AM
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."
1 comment:
Since Elvira is taking her Bible with her, she might want to look up the scriptural passages which tell Christians to obey the laws established by civil authorities.
Yes, there is a time and place for civil disobedience. This is not one of those times or places. There is nothing inherently unjust or discriminatory about laws which seek to control immigration into this or any other country. This is not about race or ethnicity, it's about preventing terrorists and criminals from entering our country undetected. Every nation has a right to protect its borders, whether one is talking about Mexico or the United States.
Elvira Arellano wants people to think she's the Mexican Rosa Parks. But Rosa Parks was not an illegal immigrant, she was a natural born citizen who, on account of her citizenry, had certain inalienable rights which were constitutionally protected.
Our Constitution was written to protect the rights of American citizens. It was not written in order to protect the "rights" of foreigners to invade our country and disrespect our laws (and our culture) while simultaneously taking our jobs and engaging in numerous acts of criminality, such as identity theft.
As someone who was raised in the Methodist church (and whose father and grandfather were both Methodist clergymen), I am appalled that a Methodist church here in Chicago has spent the past year harboring this arrogant fugitive from justice! I hope that our law enforcement officials will arrest Elvira the minute she steps outside of the church in order to leave for Washington, DC. They need to ship her lawbreaking behind back to Mexico, or better yet, put her in prison for a very long time. The latter would be preferable, even if it cost U.S. taxpayers money, because it would prevent her from just sneaking back into the USA again, the way she did the last time when she was deported. Otherwise, she'll just keep doing the same thing again and again.
As for what happens to her son, they should put him into the foster care system here in the U.S. As someone who used to work for a child welfare agency specializing in foster children, I can attest to the fact that that's what we generally do when children are unfortunate enough to be saddled with parents who cannot be bothered to obey the laws of the land.
If indeed our immigration laws are "broken", it's precisely because people such as Elvira Arellano choose to break them.
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