[antiwar-van] Sun Feb 10: Elvira Arellano on New Sanctuary Movement and Migrant Justice

[Harsha]

*THE NEW SANCTUARY MOVEMENT AND MIGRANT JUSTICE *

Date: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Time: 4:30 - 6:00pm (Doors at 4:15pm, event begins at 4:30 sharp!)
Venue: SFU Harbor Center, 515 West Hastings.
           Wheelchair accesible, childcare provided.
Hosted by: No One is Illegal
Speakers: ELVIRA ARELLANO from Mexico! (others TBC)

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Elvira Arellano is a Mexican citizen and sanctuary-deportee whose plight
in the US has galvanized the New Sanctuary Movement and personified the
oppression suffered by undocumented people. Originally entering the US in
1997, she was apprehended then and deported back to Mexico. She returned
and gave birth to a son in 1999, Saul Arellano. From 2000 to 2002,
Arellano worked as a cleaning woman at O'Hare International Airport in
Chicago, but was arrested and convicted of using a false social security
card following a post-September 11 security sweep.

On August 15, 2006 - the day she was supposed to appear before immigration
authorities - Arellano took refuge in the Adalberto United Methodist
Church in Chicago. Over the year, she become a spokesperson for the New
Sanctuary Movement, as well as president of La Familia Latina Unida, and a
symbol of resistance against the systemic violence, exploitation, and
racism in the US immigration system.

On August 19, 2007, having traveled to California on a speaking tour where
she advocated the right of immigrant families to stay united, the single
mother was arrested by US authorities and deported to Mexico, without her
son. Arellano's deportation was clearly meant as a blow to the resurgent
immigrants rights movement, yet the movement continues as strong as ever.

Join us for a ONE-TIME OPPORTUNITY to hear from Elvira, who has flown in
from Mexico to meet the US-caravan Marcha Migrante at the US-Canada border
on Feb 12th.

For more information email noii-van at resist.ca or call 778-862-8895 or
604-710-5480. www.nooneisillegal.org

Articles on Elvira:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13606
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12843


*BACKGROUNDER*

The American sanctuary movement initially took root in the 1980s as
churches rallied to assist Central American refugees fleeing US-sponsored
wars and protect them from deportation. The continuing racist exploitation
at the heart of American imperial ambitions, which has become even more
pronounced in the post 9/11 era with increasing border militarization and
deportations, has resulted in a revival of this movement over the past
several years.

The New Sanctuary Movement (NSM) is a faith-based movement uniting
Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities who share the
common hopes of providing sanctuary for undocumented migrants whose
deportation could break up families. This movement is a specific and
powerful response to the phenomenon of "illegal" parents (ie.
hyper-exploited migrant workers) being deported and separated from the
US-born (and therefore American citizen) children.

Critically, the NSM draws connections between the labor demands of a
racist, capitalist political economy and the exclusionary nature of
citizenship. Kim Bobo, executive director of the Interfaith Worker Justice
in Chicago and key NSM organizer, has stated, "The immigration reform
agenda is just inseparable from worker justice at this moment in our
history. The absolute worst abuse of workers that we see around the
country is the abuse of immigrant workers, because they have no path to
citizenship, and there's no strong protection of workers' rights for
immigrant workers."

In harmonizing Canadian immigration policies with the U.S. in the "Smart
Border Declaration" of December 2001 that is part of the Security and
Prosperity Partnership Agreement, with the proposed "national security
perimeter" around North America, and with the changes in the 2002
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act including the lack of
implementation of the Refugee Appeal Division, Canada has opted for an
increasingly racist and imperialist immigration and refugee policy.

Denise Nadeau, an educator with a Doctorate of Ministry in International
Feminist Theology writes, "In this situation of grave injustice, supporting
the claims of asylum seekers and refugees may be one of the most effective
things we, as Christians, can do to challenge the forces of empire. The
spiritual basis for solidarity is the basic fact of our interconnectedness
as human beings. This means we do not see the asylum seeker and refugee as
a "tragic" victim whom we are saving by our good works. Rather it means we
acknowledge we are in a relationship, one shaped by our location in a
country and a religion with more than five hundred years of a colonial past
and present."