Immigration activist arrested after year in refuge

A UMNS Report by Kathy L. Gilbert*

Elvira Arellano took sanctuary in Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago from Aug. 15, 2006, to Aug. 16, 2007. After traveling to California to campaign for immigration reform, she was arrested and deported on Aug. 19 in Los Angeles. A UMNS file photo by Paul Jeffrey.

Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant and member of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, was arrested in California and deported to Mexico on Aug. 19 - four days after she left the Chicago church where she had received sanctuary for a year.

Arellano, 32, and her 8-year-old son, Saul, a U.S. citizen, had lived in Adalberto United Methodist Church from Aug. 15, 2006, to Aug. 16, 2007.

On the one-year anniversary of her life inside the church walls, she announced plans to leave the church and begin a nationwide campaign for immigration reform.

One day later, she slipped out of the Chicago church unnoticed and traveled to California. There, she was arrested after leaving a Los Angeles Catholic church where she urged people to lobby Congress to take up immigration reform after the summer recess.

Chicago immigration activist Emma Lozano, wife of the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto, was with Arellano and her son when she was arrested, according to news reports.

Coleman told The Chicago Tribune that Arellano was deported to Tijuana, Mexico, but was in good spirits and ready to continue the struggle against separation of families due to the exportation of illegal immigrants. Her son remained in the United States and was under the care of Coleman and Lozano, according to news reports.

Seeking refuge
Adalberto is a storefront church on the west side of Chicago and served as the site of an Aug. 15 news conference for Arellano and an immigration rights rally that brought supporters from within the church, immigrant rights organizations, labor unions and Latino and African-American community organizations.

Arellano announced that, after several weeks of fasting and praying, she had decided to leave the church and speak out for immigration reform. She added that she was fully aware of the risks of possible arrest, jail time or deportation.

"When I entered sanctuary, I promised God that I would stay here and raise my son in his country, no matter what the consequences," Arellano said.

"I accept whatever God gives me to accept, but I ask my community to join me as we walk together for our dignity."

Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, episcopal leader of the United Methodist Northern Illinois Annual (regional) Conference, said the conference has supported Arellano and the church for the past year.

"We have supported this church in prayer as it offered Elvira the chance to practice the centuries-old tradition of sanctuary, which draws upon a tradition of non-violent protest and civil disobedience," he said.

Noting that immigration is an issue that divides the nation, Jung said that "the church will continue to raise a voice for justice for all of God's people. The church will continue its commitment to families and laws that unite rather than separate families."

Crossing borders
Arellano began her journey in Michoacán, Mexico, where she was the youngest of five children. Her father was an agricultural laborer who lost the land that he had farmed. Arellano moved to a bigger city in Mexico, hoping to find work as a secretary to help support her family.

"I had a very beautiful life there," she said, "but tough economic decisions."

She walked across the border into the United States in 1997 with hopes of earning enough money to support her family in Mexico. She gave birth to Saul and was working cleaning airplanes at O'Hare International Airport when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested her and ordered her deportation in 2002.

"This country says that I broke the law by crossing the border and working without proper papers. I did that," Arellano acknowledges. "Yet, I am a worker, and you offered me work. I am a consumer, and you accepted my hard-won earnings. I am a taxpayer, and you took my taxes."

Arellano said receiving hate mail was the most difficult part of the past year while in sanctuary. "I don't hate the people who have sent these letters to me, I pray for God to forgive them," she said.

"I am not challenging anyone. When God created the world, he did not create borders between countries. He created people to love and help each other. I am just bringing to light what those who are in power don't want to see."

Jung said, "While people of faith may disagree on the best ways to fix this nation's unworkable and outdated immigration laws, we affirm that the Bible directs Christians to care for foreigners in our midst (Exodus 23:9) and reminds us that we too are sojourners (Leviticus 25:23)."

Jung said Jesus' most pointed description of how human beings should act toward each other is in Luke 10:33-34, the story of the Good Samaritan.

"The story of the Good Samaritan reveals the radical love of God as expressed by Jesus Christ. This love transcends race, nationality and religion. It is a love that cries for justice and peace; it is a love that is sorely needed in the world today. I call on all people of faith to pray for wisdom, courage and compromise over a complex issue that deeply divides the civil discourse of this country and affects millions of lives."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. Susan Dal Porto, Northern Illinois Conference communicator, contributed to this report.