Sep 30, 2006 8:03 am US/Central
Judge Strikes Blow To Hopes Of Immigrant In Church
Court Rules American Citizen Son's Rights Won't Be Violated If Mother Is Deported
CHICAGO (AP) ―
A federal judge struck a blow Friday to the hopes of an immigration activist who has taken refuge in a Chicago church to avoid deportation, dismissing her lawsuit against the government.
Elvira Arellano, 31, a Mexican national, had hoped that U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve would rule that deporting her would violate the constitutional rights of her 7-year-old son, Saul, an American citizen.
But St. Eve ruled that no one's rights would be violated by deporting Arellano back to Mexico. She did say, however, the child would suffer a hardship.
"The question before the court is whether that hardship is of constitutional magnitude -- under any construction of the alleged facts, it is not," St. Eve said in her order.
St. Eve concluded that the pending removal order does not prevent Saul from exercising his rights of citizenship.
"Saul will not suffer any injury to his constitutional right to remain in the United States," she said.
The case was being closely watched around the country not only because of the drama of a mother fighting to stay with her son, but because Arellano has given focus to the cause of undocumented immigrants who want to stay in the United States.
"She is the face of the movement," said Emma Lozano, executive director of the
Centro Sin Fronteras and a strong Arellano supporter in an August interview with The Associated Press.
St. Eve's order dismissed the suit, which technically was brought on behalf of Saul by the pastor of the church where Arellano has taken refuge. It was not immediately clear what other steps could be taken.
Arellano's attorney, Joseph Mathews, was not reached for comment early Friday evening. A message was left on his answering machine.
But there was no sign that the government was preparing to go into the church to remove Arellano by force.
"We'll review the decision once we receive it," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas. He declined to comment further.
The Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of the
Adalberto United Methodist Church where Arellano has taken refuge, said that the woman would carry on with her struggle to remain in the United States despite the ruling.
"It doesn't change anything," he said.
A phone message left for Arellano was not immediately returned.
Arellano was supposed to surrender for deportation to Mexico on Aug. 15.
Instead, she and her son moved into a cramped room in the storefront church sandwiched between a bank and a beauty parlor in Chicago's heavily Puerto Rican
Humboldt Park neighborhood.
She has frequently told reporters visiting the church she wants to stay in the United States to provide a better life for herself and her son.
"I'm not going to leave. This is a place where God has put me, this is God's will and I'm going to stay here," Arellano has said.
Arellano first was deported from the United States shortly after illegally crossing the border in 1997, according to immigration enforcement. She says she returned within days, went on to live in Oregon for three years and moved to Chicago in 2000.
She was arrested in 2002 at
O'Hare International Airport, where she was employed as a cleaning woman, and subsequently convicted of working under a false Social Security number.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
