Church harbors woman facing deportation

AP on Yahoo ^ | 1/28/08 | Mchael Tarm - ap

[NormsRevenge]

CHICAGO - A Mexican woman says she is "picking up the torch" from another illegal resident who became a symbol for immigration reform when she took shelter in a Chicago church for a year before being deported.

Flor Crisostomo, 28, who paid a smuggler to drive her across the U.S. border in 2000, spurned a deportation order Monday and moved into Adalberto United Methodist Church.

Crisostomo hopes her actions send a message similar to Elvira Arellano, who became a beacon of hope for millions of illegal immigrants and a lightning rod for those who saw her brazen refusal to leave the U.S. as proof of lax enforcement.

Arellano lived in an apartment on the church's upper floor for a year before leaving in August to visit Los Angeles, where immigration authorities arrested her and, within hours, deported her to Mexico.

Adalberto's pastor said no one pressured Crisostomo to take sanctuary at the church, which is in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.

"It's unfortunate we have to do this. This church has other priorities, like helping the poor in this neighborhood," the Rev. Walter Coleman said. "But God didn't give us a choice. When God says do this, we say, 'Yes, sir!'"

Coleman complained that the push for immigration reform has stalled, saying even sympathetic politicians have put the sensitive issue on the back burner.

"So what are we supposed to do?" he said. "Who's moving this movement forward? It's not moving forward."

Crisostomo, who spoke through a translator, said she left Iguala Guerrero, Mexico, after she was unable to find a job that would allow her to buy enough food for her two boys and one girl, ages 9 to 14.

In July 2000 she paid a smuggler to take her across the border and spent three days lost in desert-like conditions before making it to Los Angeles, she said. A month later she arrived in Chicago, where she worked 10 hours a day, six days a week in an IFCO Systems site that made packing materials.

By last year, she earned about $360 a week, sending $300 to her children for food, clothes and school books, she said. To keep her own costs down, she lived with four other women in a two-bedroom Chicago apartment.

"My children's lives improve a lot as a result," she said. "It wasn't luxury. But it meant they could survive."

Immigration authorities raided more than 40 IFCO sites in the U.S. in 2006 and arrested Crisostomo, along with more than 1,100 other people. The Board of Immigration Appeals last year denied Crisostomo's appeal and told her to leave the United States by Monday.

Crisostomo said she didn't know how long she would stay in the church, adding that she would keep busy by lobbying via phone, e-mails and letters on behalf of millions of illegal immigrants. The apartment, which is maintained by the church, includes a bedroom, office area and living room.

Groups opposed to illegal immigration say the case is a direct challenge to federal authorities.

"It will give American citizens a great opportunity to see if Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is good at his word on strict immigration enforcement," said Rosanna Pulido, a spokeswoman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates tougher immigration enforcement.

The move to re-create the same sanctuary situation as Arellano will backfire, Pulido said.

"This tactic is ineffective," she said. "This is creating more outrage, more bad feelings toward our government and toward people who are aiding and abetting illegals."

The judicial process had given Crisostomo more than enough time to comply with U.S. law following her arrest two years ago, the Chicago office of the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement Monday.

"If Ms. Crisostomo does not comply with the immigration judge's order by tonight, she will become an immigration fugitive," the statement said.

But Crisostomo said she believes immigration authorities would not dare storm a house of worship to grab her.

"I hope they don't come for me," she said. "I hope they fear God enough."

[NormsRevenge]

Flor Crisostomo, an illegal immigrant from Mexico arrested at a workplace raid at a Chicago site of IFCO Systems in 2006, speaks in Adalberto United Methodist Church where she sought sanctuary today Monday, Jan. 28, 2008 in Chicago to avoid deportation. Federal immigration officials say if she doesn't comply with a deportation order by tonight, she'll be considered a fugitive. Crisostomo says she knows her action will almost certainly lead to deportation or imprisonment. But she says she had to act to try and change U.S. immigration laws. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

[chaos_5]

Call me a cold hearted SOB if you like, but I think they should go in there Waco style and get that woman and send her back to Mexico.

[mrsmel]

So now they’re blaming God for telling them to break the law of the land?

[mrsmel]

"I hope they don't come for me," she said. "I hope they fear God enough."

Err, but the left says we have to keep government and religion separate, so how does this work?

[padre35]

Bingo!

I’m not on either side on this one, a Church as a Sanctuary is a matter of conscience, throughout history those who are desparate have sough shelter.

On the other side, it is firmly established that a Church while Sanctuary, is not the locus of Political Actions that flout the status of recipient of a Sanctuary.

One cannot claim to fear oppression while at the same time writing Emails and Articles about how mean the country is while at the same time hoping to stay in that same Nation!

[AmericanExceptionalist]

Flor Crisostomo, 28, who paid a smuggler to drive her across the U.S. border in 2000, spurned a deportation order Monday and moved into Adalberto United Methodist Church.

Crisostomo hopes her actions send a message similar to Elvira Arellano, who became a beacon of hope for millions of illegal immigrants and a lightning rod for those who saw her brazen refusal to leave the U.S. as proof of lax enforcement.

And just what sort of "message," precisely, would that be? Is it a message that the US is devoid of any moral right to enforce its immigration laws? Is it a message (dear to the hearts of historical revisionists) that the US "stole" the land it currently inhabits from the Native Americans, and therefore has no legitimacy--ergo, no real sovereignty? Or is it the message that left-leaning churches, steeped in the doctrine of the social gospel, are above the law?

Whichever of these messages she is trying to send (or whatever combination of them), I do not find it inspiring--to say the least.

[mrsmel]

Well I hope that they charge in and cuff her sorry azz, and I pray that someone says "Don't taze me bro". This is getting ridiculous, whole cities and churches just thumbing their noses at our laws. It's got to come to a screeching halt, and this is as good a place as any.

[Huntress]

Crisostomo, who spoke through a translator, said she left Iguala Guerrero, Mexico, after she was unable to find a job that would allow her to buy enough food for her two boys and one girl, ages 9 to 14.

In July 2000 she paid a smuggler to take her across the border and spent three days lost in desert-like conditions before making it to Los Angeles, she said.

I have no sympathy for this woman. She's been here over seven years, and yet she still hasn't learned English well enough not to need a translator. She thumbs her nose at our laws by sneaking across the border and refusing to leave. The article doesn't mention it, but I would bet she has some ER bills that she has no intention of paying. And to top it all off, she has the amazing arrogance to claim the moral high ground. Get out, Flor.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

bkmark/. thanks

[VR-21]

¡Ah, la humanidad!

[Reaganite1984]

Why is it that whenever I see one of these "starving" illegal aliens she always outweighs me by a cool 50-60 lbs.?

It reminds me of a Walter Williams saying.

How come you never run into someone who's complaining about not being paid a "living wage" in a cemetery?

[mefistofelerevised]

After seeing her hanky I need one myself. I’ll pay for her bus ticket to L.A. so immigration can pick her up. Quess they don’t work Chicago.
So churches are exempt from laws and a hideout for fugitives?

[Renkluaf]

It would be nice if churches (or any other organizations) that elect to do this could have their tax exempt status revoked.

[lombardalq]

I disagree on the Waco style tactics. That will just lead to some bad publicity. I think you just send in one ICE agent, arrest her and that is it. End of story. The trouble is that LE likes to go all out, even when not needed.

[ought-six]

Get the hell out of my country!

[ought-six]

“Why is it that whenever I see one of these ‘starving’ illegal aliens she always outweighs me by a cool 50-60 lbs.?”

No kidding! There are Mexicans all over the place in the Chicago area, and the average size of a Mexican woman, for example, has to be about 5’ tall and 200 pounds. And I’m not talking about the pregnant ones.

[OCCASparky]

And people wonder why John McCain shouldn't be elected president.

[OCCASparky]

Also notice that she's 28, yet has a 14 y/o kid?

Yeah, just her and her 35-year old "boyfriend". I saw this kind of crap going on all the time when I lived in CA. You call it cultural differences, I call it statutory rape.

[Netizen]

It would be nice if churches (or any other organizations) that elect to do this could have their tax exempt status revoked.

That was my thought as well. As soon as it becomes political, it should be revoked.

[Teacher317]

But she says she had to act to try and change U.S. immigration laws.

What a shame Mexicans don't put such efforts into changing their own unconscionably corrupt government.

Mexico is NOT a poor country. With a population of 100 million people and a $1 trillion GDP, they have over $10,000 per capita income... which is almost 20% above the global average of $8,400. (CIA World Factbook)

Personally, I'm all for changing our immigration rules... by vastly increasing the number of visas, and by *gasp!* actually punishing those who break our laws. Sadly, special interest groups on each side prevent both of those from being realistic, hence we get the insanity we have today.