 Vida en el Valle Elvira Arellano se encuentra en Tijuana, Baja California después de ser detenida y deprtada en domingo pasado cuando ella establa saliendo de una iglesia en Los Angeles. Arellano había buscado refugio dentro de una iglesia en Chicago por más de un año . Ella dice que va a continuar su campaña en pro de reforma migratoria en los Estados Unidos donde ella está en México. Elvira Arellano is now in Tijuana, Baja California after being detained and deported last Sunday as she was leaving a Los Ángeles church. She had sought refuge in a Chicago church. She vows to continue her battle. |
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Golden State spoils activist's visit
(Published Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 04:01PM)A year after Elvira Arellano sought refuge inside a Chicago church to avoid being deported, she was detained and deported last Sunday by immigration officials in Los Ángeles.
Arellano was arrested around 2 p.m. upon leaving the Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles church right after mass where she had asked for the country's immigration laws to be changed so that families can stay together.
"In effect, Arellano was arrested on Sunday night by immigration officials and is currently on the border in Mexican territory and will probably be sent to her native state in the next few days," commented Alberto Lozano, spokesperson for the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.
Lozano commented that shortly after her arrest, the Mexican consul in San Diego, Luis Cabrera, showed up at local immigration offices to offer Arellano all of the necessary support from the consulate and their legal advisors.
The arrest was also confirmed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, which stated that they arrested her because the federal agency was simply doing its job.
"The responsibility of ICE was to arrest Arellano because we are enforcing the law and we'll keep doing so against any person that is a fugitive of the law," said Carl Rusnok, spokesperson for the Midwest region of ICE, which includes the state of Illinois.
Saúl, Arellano's young son, is currently with Emma Lozano, a community activist and president of the Centro Sin Fronteras organization, who has custody of the minor.
"We (Elvira and Lozano) had already agreed that is she were to be arrested, I would take care of Saulito and I'm going to keep my promise," said the Lozano.
Lozano said that Saúl is fine and at peace and has been asking her to take him to Tijuana because he wants to see his mother and give her a hug.
"Maybe after they see each other he'll want to stay in México with his mom and I'll respect his decision," she said.
In the meantime, both Lozano and Juan José Gutiérrez, coordinator of the Movimiento Latino USA organization, said they would continue with Arellano's plans to travel to the country's capital with her demands.
"Although Elvira isn't here, we'll still hold our rally and ask for and end to these type of situations where families are being divided and deported. We want to finish what Elvira started," said Gutiérrez.
Once they finish their business in California, the activists will travel to Texas and later New York, Boston, and Philadelphia before arriving in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 12.
Both organizations vowed to keep fighting for Arellano's return to the United States so that from here she could keep on fighting for legal residency in this country.
"The way immigration made the arrest and deportation was completely illegal. By law she should have been allowed to fight legally for her case while in the country, as is customary, so now we will keep fighting for her return so she can finish what she started," said Lozano.
During an interview last week prior to her arrest, Arellano told Vida en el Valle of her plans to fast in front of Congress in Washington on Sept. 12 in support of an immigration reform.
"Yes, I'm afraid but I trust God because he knows I'm not a criminal and I have never harmed anyone. The only thing I've done is try to give my son a decent life," said Arellano.
Arellano was asking the cooperation of other families in the country facing the same situation to come join her and rally for a reform.
"I'm going to be there (in Washington) with my son asking for justice for every family going through the same horrible situation, in constant fear of being deported, of having their families separated," she stated.
She added, "This trip is not only for Elvira Arellano but for every family around the country that is facing the possibility of being separated from their children, so anyone who wants to participate in the rally in Washington is welcome."
She also mentioned that is she were to be arrested she wanted immigration officials to do it in front of politicians and the media so that the whole country could see how they separate a child from its mother and to bring light to the importance of an immigration reform in this country.
"What motivates me to leave this church for the first time in a year, is my son Saúl. I want to stay by his side, in his country, to give him a better future, but that won't be possible if this country's immigration laws don't change," she pointed out.
Her story
Arellano is a native of the small town of Maravatío, in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where she studied to become a secretary and worked as one for a year.
Due to the dire financial situation her family was going through in 1997, at the age of 22 she decided to migrate to the United States in search of a better future for her and her family.
She first arrived in Washington state where she worked at a laundromat and taking care of children. A short time later her son Saúl was born.
So far Arellano hasn't made any comments about Saúl's father as she says that is a private matter. "I limit myself to stating I'm a single mother." Although she started the paperwork to become a legal resident, she received a letter from the immigration department letting her know her application had been rejected and she automatically received a notification she would be deported from the country.
She moved to Chicago in 2000 because she had family and friends there who offered their support by giving her a job and a place to live.
She immediately started to work at Chicago's O'Hare Airport using a fake Social Security number but in 2001, after the terrorist attacks in New York, federal officials raided the airport and Arellano was identified as a fugitive of the law.
In August of 2006, afraid of being found by immigration officials, Arellano sought refuge at the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago where the church's pastor supported her by keeping her safe from immigration authorities.
Send e-mail to:
mmartinez@vidaenelvalle.com
Send e-mail to: mmartinez@vidaenelvalle.com
Comment: The title for this article is inaccurate. It was the fascist Homeland Security of ICE that spoiled Elvira's visit, not the Golden State. The ]visit' of Hermana Elvira Arellano had a clear social-political agenda, especially to expose the inhumane and insane public policy of the corrupt U.S. government in relation to its immigration policy and the harmful effects that such a policy has on real people with real families who are working in basic industries that keep the U.S. economy going in the agricultural and other basic service and manufacturing industries.
In all this endless public debate about the 'immigration question' and despite the cowardly paralysis of the U.S. Congress, we must not lose sight of the basic historical fact that Mexican immigrants are natural native descendants of the original peoples of these lands ~Aztlan~ who were here before there was even a United States of America! Study the history of the Mexican-American War!
Related Study Links:
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/mexican-war/war.htm
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html
http://www.nps.gov/archive/fosc/mexican.htm
http://www.azteca.net/aztec/war/Mexican-American-War.html
http://www.dmwv.org/mexwar/mexwar1.htm
http://www.usahistory.com/wars/mexico.htm
The present bounaries of the United States are the result of the previous War of Occupation by the United States against Mexico that the Mexican government lost and signed off with the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. We should not ever lose sight of the long historical context of the present dilemna. We and our relatives are descendants of these ancient lands rightfully called by many Aztlan.
Many of us ourselves must shed the Amerikan mentality like an old snake skin and wake up to the connected reality of here now. The U.S.A. is a failed state and the Bush Regime is a rogue regime that operates in violation of all serious international law!
True Justice for Elvira Arellano and All Natural Natives of Aztlan!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
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Join Up!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
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