Elvira Arellano Keeps Her Promises, Won’t Stop Fighting

Julianne Hing

Elvira Arellano Keeps Her Promises, Won’t Stop Fighting

Elvira Arellano and her son

Elvira Arellano, an undocumented mom who defied a deportation order and sought sanctuary in a Chicago church for nearly a year back in 2006, is in the news again. She became an activist and an organizer and was vocal about the broken immigration system in this country. She angered restrictionists because she dared to believe that she and her son, Saulito, had rights in this country. She was deported in August 2007. But she won’t be silenced.

Today, Arellano is running for a seat in the Mexican Congress with the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) to represent Baja California, keeping her promises to fight for justice. She kicked off her campaign this weekend in Tijuana.

Central to her platform are, you guessed it, immigrant rights, both for those who come to the United States, but also for Central American migrants to Mexico. She is stressing the particular hardships that women migrants face. “I am going to seek laws in Congress that protect women, and also that protect undocumented Central Americans who are treated like criminals in Mexico,” Arellano said.

Her son, it’s reported, is enrolled in school in Michoacan.

Posted at 2:32 PM, May 11, 2009 in Permalink | View Comments

Comments

Thanks for keeping us informed.
Dont give up!

go for it, were all immigrant anyways!!!

I live in Chicago, and this woman just annoys the he "double hockey sticks" out of me! The only reason she even got pregnant and returned here a SECOND TIME illegally, was to have a child who would automatically be granted citizenship here to FURTHER HER OWN CAUSE. She is using that child. This woman is a manipulative, annoying person. We are one of the most leniant countries when it comes to allowing others to come here, but it's time we put our foot down. Other countries have much more tighter restrictions, and we need to, also. It is unfair that many of us work full time and our money (and tax dollars) not only support ourselves, but others who don't want to work and are not even here legally. These are the people who abuse the system- they have their link cards and get their free food, they put their children on free lunches at school, yet they drive around in fancy cars and have big screen tvs and fancy gadgets- go figure. Those of us citizens who do work full time and pay taxes also pay for many of these women to have children "for free" in our hospitals. Not fair in my opinion. If I wanted to have a baby, not only would I have to keep working full time to support it, I'd also need my insurance, and have to pay for the percentage that is not covered, BECAUSE I WORK FULL TIME! Time for lazy people to stop expecting that we owe them and that they are entitled! They aren't. It is getting annoying and out of hand!