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Elvira Arellano, former cleaner at Chicago airport, fights government order for her deportation |
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AP/Julio Cortez
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Elvira Arellano (left), at Chicago’s Adalberto United Methodist Church August 15, where she has taken sanctuary after refusing to obey a deportation order. |
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CHICAGO—Elvira Arellano, a former cleaner at O’Hare Airport here who was arrested and ordered deported following a workplace raid in 2002, is fighting her deportation. “I’m going to fight so that my son and I will be respected. So that all undocumented immigrants will be respected,” she said. Her seven-year-old son was born in the United States. On August 15 Arellano refused to obey an order to report for deportation and accepted the offer of sanctuary at Adalberto United Methodist Church in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they consider her a fugitive. The immigrant rights group Centro Sin Fronteras is mobilizing support for Arellano. She is also backed by the March 10 Movement coalition, which organized a mass protest March 10 for immigrant rights. —ROLLANDE GIRARD Related articles: Chicago conference calls actions for immigrant rights September rallies to demand legalization, end to deportations Build actions for immigrant rights! Day laborers in partnership with AFL-CIO Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home |