FW: Elvira Arellano, comments to Chicago Tribune

------ Forwarded Message
From: Mercedes Castillo <mvcastillojd@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 12:43:03 -0500
To: <ctc-response@tribune.com>
Conversation: Elvira Arellano
Subject: Elvira Arellano

Should Elvira Arellano be deported?

Absolutely not.

If undocumented immigrants are good enough to work in your restaurants, pick
your vegetables, mow your lawns, clean your hotel rooms, build your houses,
and pick up your trash, then WHY are we not good enough to be citizens of
the same country we work so hard to build?

Undocumented immigrants are the back bone of the United States. Our economy
saves billions of dollars every year because of the fact that undocumented
immigrants are not paid fair market value for their services.

Why is Elvira treated as a criminal? She has done nothing wrong. The real
illegal act here is the fact that the US has gone into every Latin American
country and created "agreements" that do nothing but benefit the US and
leave countries like Mexico without natural resources and struggling to
uplift their economy. Why do US citizens not question WHY their jobs are
heading south and to India? The US government benefits from their policies
with other countries and scapegoats immigrants in this country in order to
keep the US public focused on other issues.

The real issue is that Elvira is a real person. She is a mother, she is a
worker, she is a woman. She is not a number or a document or an example.
SHE IS NOT A TERRORIST. If Elvira was YOUR sister, your daughter, your
mother, you would not allow this to happen to her. The US media does a
really good job of dehumanizing what is a very real human rights issue.
Elvira did what many of our foremothers did when she came to this country.
Native Americans never asked the pilgrims for their "green card". None of
these so called immigration reformists are NATIVE to this country. All of
us are immigrants. All of us.

I am asking that the United States start treating immigrants with dignity
and respect. If you don't want us here illegally, then give us a process
that will allow all of us to be here LEGALLY. There are feasible
alternatives. STOP deporting working class people and address the real
immigration issues. A working mother with a young child MUST NOT be
considered a criminal. Half of us are women and the other half would not be
here if it wasn't for a woman.

We will not stop marching, we will use our power to vote, and we will fight
for the right to be treated as others.

Sincerely,
Mercedes Castillo
Chair, National Latina/Latino Law Student Association
http://nllsa.org

------ End of Forwarded Message

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