off to school. she would see him out the church doors and send him to school, but she, herself, never actually went outside the church and on to the street for fear of being arrested. and the story of elvira and her son, saul, taking refuge in that little church, the dilemma of whether or not the government should force her and her son out of that church by force and separate them, that dilemma started to spread. she pasted the church windows with copies of letters of support she received from congressman luis gutierrez of illinois and mayor richard daley. he said if she was arrested at that church in what she called holy sanctuary, she said, quote, she would know god wants me to be the example of the current hatred and hypocrisy of the current policy of this government. she started a group to advocate for a change in policy so kids who were u.s. citizens like her son, saul, would not be forcibly separated from their parents
side, there s a church there called the adalberto united methodist. nothing fancy. a handful of short pews and a decorated altar. at chicago s o hare airport, a woman had a job making $6.50 an hour cleaning out planes. not a great job. not a high-paying job. but a job. she was a young single mother. she got caught up in an immigration sweep of low-wage workers at the airport. she did not have the right immigration status. she was not supposed to be working that kind of job. though she fought through the legal resources she had after that sweep, eventually she received a deadline notice from the department of homeland security demanding she report to the homeland security office in chicago by 9:00 a.m. on a specific day whereupon she would be deported back to mexico. beyond the fact that she did not want to go, herself, she also had a 7-year-old son named saul who had been born in this country, who lived his whole life in chicago. he was a u.s. citizen.
not a great job. not a high-paying job. but a job. she was a young single mother. she got caught up in an immigration sweep of low-wage workers at the airport. she did not have the right immigration status. she was not supposed to be working that kind of job. though she fought through the legal resources she had after that sweep, eventually she received a deadline notice from the department of homeland security demanding she report to the homeland security office in chicago by 9:00 a.m. on a specific day whereupon she would be deported back to mexico. beyond the fact that she did not want to go, herself, she also had a 7-year-old son named saul who had been born in this country, who lived his whole life in chicago. he was a u.s. citizen. she was wasn t going to separate herself from her son, what, leave him here alone at age 7? she did not want to go to mexico, but she had this deadline notice to turn herself in at homeland security. she did not. instead, she went to the church. he cam
to custom and border patrol asking to be allowed to be with their families. in addition to saul, now 15 years old, elvira has a new boy. she was with her baby boy when she crossed this week. seven years ago, she sought sanctuary in the store front church in chicago. at the time she was holding out hope that congress would move, act on legislation that would allow her to stay here with her american son. she inspired a lot of people in the country with her year-long fight to stay. living in that little church. but ultimately when she dared to step outside, she was deported. seven years later this week, she crossed over again. customs and border patrol arrested her.
off to school. she would see him out the church doors and send him to school, but she, herself, never actually went outside the church and on to the street for fear of being arrested. and the story of elvira and her son, saul, taking refuge in that little church, the dilemma of whether or not the government should force her and her son out of that church by force and separate them, that dilemma started to spread. she pasted the church windows with copies of letters of support she received from congressman luis gutierrez of illinois and mayor richard daley. he said if she was arrested at that church in what she called holy sanctuary, she said, quote, she would know god wants me to be the example of the current hatred and hypocrisy of the current policy of this government. she started a group to advocate for a change in policy so kids who were u.s. citizens like her son, saul, would not be forcibly separated from their parents by u.s. deportation policy. there s a long history of people