American boy lobbies for Mexican mom Associated Press
November 14, 2006
MEXICO CITY -- An American second-grader fighting to prevent his migrant mother's deportation from the United States took his battle to Mexico's government on Monday, walking the halls of Congress in hiking boots and jeans to lobby lawmakers from his mother's homeland for help.
Seven-year old Saul Arellano has been living with his single mother, an undocumented Mexican migrant, at the Adalberto United Methodist Church on Chicago's West Side since Aug. 15 when she was scheduled to surrender to US authorities for deportation.
"I want my mom to stay with me in the US," Saul said in an interview with The Associated Press between meetings with Mexican lawmakers. "I want to stay there because that is where my school is."
Saul, a US citizen, said he planned to address Mexico's Congress on Tuesday. Several lawmakers who met with him informally said they would present a resolution asking their US counterparts to stop Elvira Arellano, 31, from being deported, said Emma Lozano, the executive director of the Chicago-based immigration-rights group Centro Sin Fronteras who accompanied Saul on the trip.
So far, US immigration authorities have made no attempt to arrest Saul's mother. Her fight is being closely watched by legal experts and immigration activists on both sides of the border as it could affect more than 3 million children who are US citizens but who have at least one parent in the country illegally.
While his mother stays inside the church, relying on food and clothes brought by friends, Saul has taken her battle to the outside world.
Over the past few months, he has spoken at conferences from Chicago to Los Angeles and written letters to top US politicians including President Bush.
"I told President Bush to stop the deportations so families can stay together in the US," said Saul, who is bilingual and spoke to the Associated Press in Spanish.
He said he was scared to come to Mexico "because when I'm here, they could deport my mom." But "she told me to behave and be brave," he said.
Elvira Arellano wrote a letter to Mexican President Vicente Fox, who leaves office Dec. 1, but has not received a response.
"It's not just about me. I am the example for what thousands of Mexican families face here," she told the AP in a telephone interview from Chicago.
Elvira Arellano has said that if she is deported, it would deprive her son of his rights as a US citizen.
The US Border Patrol caught the migrant worker from central Michoacan state in 1997 shortly after she crossed the border. She crossed again and made it to Chicago, where five years later she was arrested and convicted of working as a cleaning woman at O'Hare International Airport under a false Social Security number.
This is Saul's first visit to Mexico and he said he hoped to meet his grandparents for the first time.
