Immigrant plans to leave her sanctuary
An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church one year ago to avoid deportation said Wednesday that she plans to leave her sanctuary next month to lobby Congress for immigration reform, even if it means risking arrest.
"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," Elvira Arellano, 32, said Wednesday, reading in English from a prepared statement.
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 said the decision to leave the church is not a challenge to authorities to arrest her. She also said if she is arrested, her son would stay in the United States.
It was unclear Wednesday when Arellano would leave for Washington D.C. and how she would travel. The church's pastor, the Rev. Walter Coleman, has said it is unlikely she would take an airplane.
Arellano has said she hasn't left the church since last August for fear of being sent back to Mexico and separated from her son.
Her public defiance has drawn attention to illegal immigrants whose children are American citizens, but she's also drawn criticism from many who say she exploits her son by having him speak at news conferences.
Arellano came illegally to the U.S. in 1997. She was deported shortly thereafter, but returned and worked at different jobs, including child care. 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 decided instead to take refuge at her church.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Wednesday that Arellano is considered an "immigration fugitive" because she failed to surrender for deportation, but declined to discuss specific details of her case.
"ICE has the authority to arrest illegal aliens in all locales and prioritizes its enforcement efforts based on investigative leads and intelligence," Chicago-based ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said in a statement Wednesday.
Arellano, who usually conducts interviews in Spanish with a translator, shakily read the statement in English Wednesday with prompting by Emma Lozano, the head of the immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras. The organization has backed Arellano from the beginning of her sanctuary at the church in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Jacqueline Jackson, the wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Nation of Islam officials and Christian clergy from several states, including California and Texas, also spoke at the news conference in support of Arellano.
Arellano said she plans to pray for eight hours on the National Mall on Sept. 12. Her supporters invited others to join Arellano in prayer and participate in a boycott from work, school and shopping on that day.
In a statement, Lozano and Coleman introduced a four-point proposal for immigration reform, including a safe-harbor visa program for illegal immigrant parents who have U.S. citizen children and a five-year temporary work visa for those who qualify under national security standards.
"Families should not be separated," Arellano said. "I understand fear because I fear being torn from the arms of my son."