Oct 2, 2006 11:07 am US/Central
Immigrant Activist's Son Hoping To Visit President
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The 7-year-old son of a Chicago immigration activist is headed to Washington, D.C., on Monday in an attempt to deliver a letter to President
George W. Bush.
Elvira Arellano, 31, a Mexican national, has been living at
Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago since August in an effort to avoid deportation to Mexico. Her son, Saul, is a U.S. Citizen.
A spokeswoman for Arellano said Saul left on a flight for Washington on Monday with Emma Lozano, head of the Chicago immigration-rights group
Centro Sin Fronteras.
Saul hoped to deliver a letter the White House on Tuesday asking President Bush to intervene in his mother's case.
On Friday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the government on Arellano's behalf. It contended deporting her would effectively deport her son Saul and would be a violation of his rights.
The Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of the 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.
Arellano 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 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
