MEXICO: Seven year old boy addresses Mexican Congress in bid to prevent his mother from being deported from the United States

A seven-year-old Mexican boy appeared in front of government authorities in Mexico City on Tuesday (November 14) in attempt to stop the U.S. government from deporting his mother. The boy, Saul Arellano, spoke to members of the Mexican Congress, saying he didn't want his mother Elvira Arellano to be deported from Chicago, Illinois, where the woman has taken refuge in a Methodist church. As a U.S. citizen, Saul Arellano cannot be deported and would therefore be separated from his mother in the case that she is sent back to Mexico. After hearing Arellano out, Mexican officials agreed to intervene in the case. Members of the immigration commission asked the U.S. government not deport the boy's mother. Later at a press conference, Arellano called out U.S. President George W. Bush. "I want President Bush to stop capturing and deporting people so that my mother and other people stay together in the United States," the boy said to members of the press. Mexican officials consider the case of the young boy to be common amongst Mexican immigrants in the U.S. and want to put a law in place that would outlaw deportations in similar cases. Ema Lozano of the Center Without Borders said that she hopes changes in demographics in North America will affect changes in United States' policy toward Mexican immigrants. "There are hundreds of thousands of new voters registered to vote and they changed the congress and the senate in the last election. So we are extremely hopeful, not only for Elvira Arellano, but for the twelve million undocumented immigrants that live and work and pay taxes in the United States that they will be able to live with dignity," Lozano said. In the coming days, Arellano and Lozano plan on visiting the Mexican senate and human rights organizations to rally support for their cause. The case of the Arellanos comes at a time when many in Mexico are up in arms about the proposal to build a large wall to keep Mexican immigrants from entering the United States.

ITN Source | November 15, 2006

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