Immigrant to Leave Chicago Sanctuary

Sophia Tareen of the Associated Press writes:

A woman who has come to personify the struggles of illegal immigrant parents says that for the first time in a year she will venture beyond the walls of the church that has protected her from deportation.

Elvira Arellano took refuge inside Aldalberto United Methodist Church on Aug. 15, 2006, and has lived there on the second floor with her 8-year-old son Saul, who is a U.S. citizen.

She hasn’t left the church for fear of being sent back to Mexico and separated from her son.

She was to announce Wednesday that she plans a Sept. 12 trip to Washington to lobby Congress for immigration reform, according to the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of the church and longtime Chicago political activist.

It’s not clear how she’ll get there, but she likely won’t be flying, Coleman told The Associated Press Tuesday. He and others worry Arellano will be arrested, but she plans to go anyway.

“I will go with my Bible and my son and I will read to him from the Holy Scriptures as I do every day,” Arellano said in a statement sent Tuesday to The AP. “If this government would separate me from my son, let them do it in front of the men and women who have the responsibility to fix this broken law and uphold the principles of human dignity.” Click here for the rest of the story.

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