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PRAYER: Elvira Arellano, left, and son Saul at Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago. A growing Âsanctuary movement seeking to protect illegal immigrants from deportation is working to keep Arellano and Saul from being separated. Saul has traveled the U.S. to draw attention to their case and millions of others. (Chicago Tribune / September 5, 2006) |
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MEXICO CITY — Seven-year-old Saul Arellano fidgeted with his lucha libre wrestling toys Tuesday as he walked through the halls of Mexico's Congress. Alongside him was the small retinue of U.S. activists who have helped make him a cause celebre of the immigration debate on both sides of the border.
The shy but persuasive U.S.-born son of a Mexican immigrant told his story to legislators in spare, American-accented Spanish.
"It's hard to talk to a 7-year-old," said Congressman Edmundo Ramirez. "But he's made it clear he doesn't want to be separated from his mother…. There are millions of undocumented families in the United States that are in the same position."
On Tuesday, the child lobbyist persuaded the factions in Mexico's divided Congress to unite behind his plea: They voted unanimously to ask the U.S. government not to deport his mother, Elvira, an illegal immigrant holed up in a Chicago church.
The saga of "Little Saul" (Saulito in Spanish) has captivated Mexico since he arrived here Sunday on a mission to draw attention to the plight of thousands of Latino families who could be divided by stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
Interviewed Tuesday morning in the Televisa studio by Carlos Loret de Mola, one of Mexico's most famous TV personalities, Saul offered the poignant image of a child far away from home. His small body barely filled the swivel chair. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.
"Do you feel a little bit Mexican?" Loret de Mola asked.
"I don't know," the boy answered in Spanish. No se.
"How did you learn Spanish?"
"I don't know."
When Loret de Mola asked Saul whether he wanted to live in Mexico, the boy answered simply, "No."
"Why not?"
"Because over there in Chicago is where my school is, my friends," the boy said.
Saul's visits with Mexican lawmakers are the latest chapter in a story that began with Elvira's illegal border crossing and move to Washington state, where she gave birth to Saul. She later settled in Chicago, where she received a deportation order by mail three months ago.
In Chicago, New York and other U.S. cities, a growing "sanctuary" movement seeking to protect illegal immigrants from deportation has made Saulito and his mother its poster family.
The Arellanos are living above the rough-hewn wooden benches of Adalberto United Methodist Church, a storefront in a Puerto Rican neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. Between services, the front doors are usually padlocked.
"This is a fight we won't give up on," Elvira, a 31-year-old single mother, said in Spanish. "My son is an American citizen, and he deserves to have his mother by his side."
There are at least 3.1 million children like Saul in the United States, with one or more parents in the country illegally, according to a 2006 report released by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Arellano said her trouble began in December 2001 when she was arrested and later convicted of fraudulently using a Social Security number to land a job with a cleaning crew at O'Hare International Airport.
After several extensions that allowed her to stay, and a failed legal appeal, she was told to report for deportation proceedings on Aug. 15.
The shy but persuasive U.S.-born son of a Mexican immigrant told his story to legislators in spare, American-accented Spanish.
"It's hard to talk to a 7-year-old," said Congressman Edmundo Ramirez. "But he's made it clear he doesn't want to be separated from his mother…. There are millions of undocumented families in the United States that are in the same position."
On Tuesday, the child lobbyist persuaded the factions in Mexico's divided Congress to unite behind his plea: They voted unanimously to ask the U.S. government not to deport his mother, Elvira, an illegal immigrant holed up in a Chicago church.
The saga of "Little Saul" (Saulito in Spanish) has captivated Mexico since he arrived here Sunday on a mission to draw attention to the plight of thousands of Latino families who could be divided by stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
Interviewed Tuesday morning in the Televisa studio by Carlos Loret de Mola, one of Mexico's most famous TV personalities, Saul offered the poignant image of a child far away from home. His small body barely filled the swivel chair. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.
"Do you feel a little bit Mexican?" Loret de Mola asked.
"I don't know," the boy answered in Spanish. No se.
"How did you learn Spanish?"
"I don't know."
When Loret de Mola asked Saul whether he wanted to live in Mexico, the boy answered simply, "No."
"Why not?"
"Because over there in Chicago is where my school is, my friends," the boy said.
Saul's visits with Mexican lawmakers are the latest chapter in a story that began with Elvira's illegal border crossing and move to Washington state, where she gave birth to Saul. She later settled in Chicago, where she received a deportation order by mail three months ago.
In Chicago, New York and other U.S. cities, a growing "sanctuary" movement seeking to protect illegal immigrants from deportation has made Saulito and his mother its poster family.
The Arellanos are living above the rough-hewn wooden benches of Adalberto United Methodist Church, a storefront in a Puerto Rican neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. Between services, the front doors are usually padlocked.
"This is a fight we won't give up on," Elvira, a 31-year-old single mother, said in Spanish. "My son is an American citizen, and he deserves to have his mother by his side."
There are at least 3.1 million children like Saul in the United States, with one or more parents in the country illegally, according to a 2006 report released by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Arellano said her trouble began in December 2001 when she was arrested and later convicted of fraudulently using a Social Security number to land a job with a cleaning crew at O'Hare International Airport.
After several extensions that allowed her to stay, and a failed legal appeal, she was told to report for deportation proceedings on Aug. 15.
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