Illegal held up in a church in chicago

[39mto39g]

refuge in church

By Oscar Avila
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 16, 2006, 7:01 AM CDT


A prominent advocate for illegal immigrants began a second day of refuge in a West Side church in defiance of federal authorities in Chicago who are trying to deport her.

Elvira Arellano, who became a national spokeswoman for families facing deportation, had been ordered to report to the Department of Homeland Security by 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Instead, Arellano appeared at the pulpit of Adalberto United Methodist Church in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, vowing before dozens of supporters that she would not return to Mexico "like a coward." She said she would stay in the church indefinitely with her 7-year-old son, a U.S. citizen.

This morning, Arellano appeared in front of the church and said she doesn't want to leave her 7-year-old son, who is a U.S. citizen. She said she is not a terrorist and only wants to protect his rights.
Because Arellano ignored her deportation order, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said she is now considered a fugitive. Spokesman Tim Counts said agents have the authority to go into a church or anywhere else to make an arrest.

"We will take action at the time and place of our choosing," Counts said

Legal experts agree that a church offers no formal protection, but they say it could put the government in an awkward position.

"Just because you are in a church doesn't mean you are less deportable in a legal sense," said Joel Fetzer, associate professor of political science at Pepperdine University. "But in a political sense, it looks very bad to be hauling people out of churches as the camera rolls."

[Robert Ryan]

If she is here illegally she goes. That's it. Don't care who she is, where she is from, where she is, your here illegally you go.

[Jerry D]

Deport her and let her apply for a Visa like everyone else. "Just because a Cat has kittens in the Oven don't make them Biscuits" Same, same for her kid!