Elvira Arellano, the illegal alien and fugitive from justice that has hid out in a sidestreet church in Chicago, has been named a "Person who mattered in 2006".
Our incompetent government has allowed Elvira Arellano to remain in the church and done nothing and therefore created a cover story for all of those illegal aliens out there breaking into our country, stealing American citizens identities in order to find work and not paying their taxes.
Elvira Arellano has been hiding in the church for 4 months now, remaining on American soil and not facing justice in this country. She has sent her son to Mexico, the White House and around the country to rally support so that she can remain in America. In other words she's used her son as a tool for amnesty.
Time
Elvira Arellano, 31, has one thing in common with many of the Christians who took refuge in medieval Europe's churches and cathedrals: she has broken the law. Nine years ago, she strolled through an untended turnstile on the U.S.-Mexico border and began the life of an undocumented worker. In the time since, she has had a son, Saul, now 8 years old, by law a U.S. citizen. In 2002, Arellano was arrested in a sweep of O'Hare International Airport for workers with false Social Security numbers. (She was earning $6.50 an hour for cleaning planes.) Sentenced to three years' probation for Social Security fraud, she was issued a deportation order. She pursued several legal reprieves, and when the last one failed on Aug. 15, she sought sanctuary in the church. She says she will not take her son back to a country she gave up for a better life; nor will she leave him to fend for himself in the U.S. "It's wrong to split up families. I'm fighting for my son, not for myself. It's a matter of principle. I don't want him treated like garbage," she says, adding, "I am a mom and a worker. I am not a terrorist."
Here's the reality of the situation. If a female American citizen broke the law and committed fraud and identity theft, they would be put in jail regardless if they had a child or not. That child would either go to live with relatives or be put in foster homes. Why should it be any different for a person of a foreign country?
We really need to stop pussy footing around with this issue and put our foot down. Convicted parents should be deported and if they have citizen children they either go with them or be placed in a foster care system.
I have no sympathy for these people when they are causing so much grief to taxpayers and citizens whose identities have been stolen. They are criminals and should be treated as such.
You are disgusting. Unless you are an American Indian, you have no right to judge immigrants who come to the country to work. Unlike the "founding fathers", these undocumented immigrants are not here for conquest nor are they enforcing a slavery system on some ridiculous notions of "racial superiority". You need to look at the context behind this immigration topic. To start, you can begin learning about the effects that neoliberalism and policies like NAFTA have had on the economy of these countries. Learn some history. Please.
Posted by: Abigail on February 13, 2007 02:13 PM
Oh shut up Abigail. Are you American Indian? Nope, probably self-hating white liberal. Don't play the idiotic "the Indians were here first" card. The Founding Fathers gave ingrates like you the right to free speech and the seperation of church and state. I have no sympathy for Arellano. By her own accord, she trespassed into someone else's country. By her own accord, she got pregnant(although I'm convinced finding a Latina woman without a baby is like searching for a needle in a haystack). By her own accord, she defied our laws and squatted. This is our country, not hers. Her racist country would never give any sympathy to a poor white "gringo" squatter in their churches, why should we do the same?
Posted by: TC on August 20, 2007 01:05 PM
