(no subject)
this morning, our immigration class met with a woman named Elvira Arellano. she came to the US illegally ten years ago, from Mexico to find better work. she first moved to washington, where she had a son. he's a US citizen because he was born here. then they moved to chicago, and she found a job cleaning airplanes. after 9/11, she was arrested when INS officials raided airports to find terrorists. they didn't find terrorists, only undocumented immigrants, like Elvira. over the past few years, since she was arrested, she has gained support of many organizations and politicians from the community. a few US congressmen were even willing to sponser private bills allowing her to stay in the country. they didn't pass, but they did allow her to postpone deportation. eventually, senator durbin did not renew the bill, and she is being deported. however, on august 15th, instead of reporting to the officials, she sought sanctuary in a church, and has been living there since, unable to leave, even to take her son to school. if she is eventually deported, if the INS storms the church, or she ever leaves and is caught, her and her son will be split up. she will not be allowed back in the US for at least 10 years, possibly forever, and her son will become a ward of the state. saul, her son, is only 7 years old. he does not entirely understand what is going on with his mom. when she tries to explain to him what might happen, he tells her they will just keep fighting. next month, he is walking to washington DC to deliver a letter to bush. sadly, elvira's story is not unique. there are 3.1 million children who are US citizens but have one or more parent that is undocumented and could be deported. elvira, saul, and the church they are currently living in are fighting for all of them. as we spoke to elvira and a community organizer, we heard other devestating stories about latinos in chicago. A 78 year old Puerto rican man went to the hospital to visit his wife. Because the security guard thought he "looked mexican" and it took too long for him to take out his ID, the security guard took him outside and started kicking him. a few weeks ago in my neighborhood, a few cops thought it would be funny to get some border patrol hats made and arrested a random man on the street because they believed he was undocumented. turns out, that's illegal of them (in many ways) and the man they arrested is here legally. those stories go on and on, and if that much is happening in a relatively liberal area, it's hard to imagine what immigrants, or people that look like they could be immigrants, are going through in more conservative areas.
it was incredibly powerful to hear Elvira's story. Although it was devastating to hear what she has gone through and what others like her are dealing with, it was also incredibly inspiring to be near such a strong, brave woman, who was willing to stand up to the US government. when she finished speaking to us, my teacher told us, as he started to cry, that he didn't care if we got anything else out of this class as long as we remembered Elvira and promised to share her story with others.
it was incredibly powerful to hear Elvira's story. Although it was devastating to hear what she has gone through and what others like her are dealing with, it was also incredibly inspiring to be near such a strong, brave woman, who was willing to stand up to the US government. when she finished speaking to us, my teacher told us, as he started to cry, that he didn't care if we got anything else out of this class as long as we remembered Elvira and promised to share her story with others.