Church where illegal immigrant took sanctuary to host another guest
Leaders of a Chicago church where an illegal immigrant from Mexico took sanctuary for a year before being deported say they plan to house another immigration activist who is set on defying a deportation order.
Flor Crisostomo, 28, an illegal immigrant who came to the U.S. in 2001, was slated to report to federal immigration officials on Monday, but the head of Adalberto United Methodist Church said she will seek refuge at the church in the same way as immigration activist Elvira Arellano, who was deported to Mexico last August.
"She wanted to continue the struggle," Rev. Walter Coleman said of Crisȳstomo. "That's what the church is for, to provide space where the truth can be told. She brings out the truth of the situation in a different way than Elvira did."
Crisostomo's attorney, Chris Bergin, planned to submit a letter to immigration officials Monday, outlining his client's decision to stay in the U.S. illegally.
Crisostomo, who declined requests to speak with reporters until Monday, immigrated without papers to Chicago from Oaxaca in Mexico seven years ago. She took a job with IFCO Systems, a manufacturer of crates and pallets, and was arrested during raids on company sites nationwide in 2006.
Her three children, two boys and a girl, live in Mexico with their maternal grandmother; Crisostomo is unmarried.
"I am taking a stand of civil disobedience ..." she said in prepared remarks to be read Monday, which were sent to The Associated Press. "I believe with all my heart that the United States and Mexico must end the system of undocumented labor."
Crisostomo, who has been an immigration activist in the Chicago area and fasted with Arellano in protest of immigration policies, said she could not support her family if she returned to Mexico.
Immigration activists such as Coleman claim that by living at the church -- apart from her three children -- Crisostomobrings attention to how they believe immigration policies in the U.S. need attention.
Activists from the church and the Chicago immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras claim that economic situations have deteriorated in Mexico because of NAFTA and other U.S. policies, creating dire situations that cause illegal immigration.
"The current policies are driving people further and further underground," Coleman said. "That's the reason she came in the first place. She's saying that you need to fix the system here."
Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago, declined to comment on Crisostomo's specific case.
"ICE officers are sworn to enforce the nation's immigration laws and will do so at appropriate times and places," she said.
Adalberto United Methodist Church, located in the heavily Latino Humboldt Park neighborhood, was home to immigration activist Elvira Arellano, and her U.S. citizen son, Saul, for one year. Arellano left the church last August and was arrested in Los Angeles after giving a speech and deported to Mexico shortly thereafter.
Arellano was initially arrested in 1997 after crossing the border into the United States. She was sent back to Mexico but soon returned. She was arrested again years later and convicted of working as a cleaning woman at O'Hare International Airport under a false Social Security number.
She took refuge at the church in 2006, claiming that if she was deported, her son would also be effectively deported and deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen. She said her situation illustrated the plight of millions of illegal immigrants.