On Tuesday Aug. 15, Elvira Arellano, an immigrant and president of the immigrant rights organization La Familia Latina Unida in Chicago, defied a deportation order from Homeland Security. She took sanctuary in Adalberto United Methodist Church in Humboldt Park, a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago.
Arellano is an outspoken leader of the immigrant rights movement both in Chicago and around the country. She has a
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Defending her action, Arellano told the Associated Press, “I am a single mom. My son, he is a citizen. I am not a terrorist. I am not a criminal. I am a mom. He is my son.”
Initially, local Homeland Security officials threatened to raid the church and arrest Arellano. But the groundswell of community support for her has forced Homeland Security to state publicly they will not enter the church to arrest her.
Over the last two weeks, there have been nightly rallies and vigils at the church in support of Arellano. Thousands of people, including civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, have visited the church to offer their solidarity with her struggle and the struggle of all immigrant workers in the United States. Arellano told reporters at a rally that “I don’t only speak for me, but for millions of families like mine.”
At a rally in support of Arellano on Aug. 20 community members chanted, “We will struggle hand in hand, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans!” Many community, anti-war and social justice organizations have participated in support activities for Arellano.
In the wake of massive demonstrations for immigrant rights earlier this year, Homeland Security and the government as a whole are increasing their attacks on immigrants. From March through May 2006, at precisely the same time the largest protests were happening, immigration raids greatly increased. Homeland Security deported a record 61,000 people in those three months, mostly to Mexico.
Besides frequents raids on their workplaces and communities and the constant threat of deportation, immigrants workers are subjected to widespread abuse, including beatings, torture and death, at the hands of border patrol agents and local police departments.
Elvira Arellano and all immigrants workers like her do not threaten workers in the United States. Neither do the thousands of families that the U.S. government splits apart every year through mass deportations. They are our sisters and brothers; our allies, comrades and friends. We are united in the struggle for justice against the racist, capitalist exploiters.
Millions of immigrant workers like Arellano work hard every day, creating the vast wealth of this country. Arellano not only deserves immediate full citizenship; every immigrant worker in the United States deserves full citizenship and equality.
