The
Elvira Arellano Endgame
By David Howard
26 August, 2008
Countercurrents.org
On
rare occasions humble acts of moral courage awaken our souls and reverberate
through history. They touch us quietly and intimately, shed light, and
profoundly inspire spiritual renewal: Rosa Parks refuses to sit in the
back of a Montgomery, Alabama bus; an anonymous protester stands up
to a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square; Anne Frank writes a diary
before her deportation and death in Auschwitz.
On August 19, 2007 the US
Immigrant Rights movement had its own historic moment destined to inspire
future generations of social justice activists. Elvira Arellano, a Chicago
cleaning woman and working mom, was arrested outside a church in Los
Angeles. The immigration police immediately deported her to Mexico.
Arellano, who worked maintenance
at O’Hare International Airport until she was fired in a post-9/11
purge of undocumented workers, became an unlikely human rights hero
last year when she sought sanctuary in a Chicago Methodist church. Her
simple Christian purpose was to avoid deportation and separation from
her son Saul, a US citizen. Saul was an infant when Elvira was mopping
our floors and cleaning our airport toilets. Now he was a second-grader,
and his mom was a fugitive, on the run from the dreaded migra.
Like millions of other economic
refugees, Elvira and Saul have been subjected to the increasingly stringent
enforcement policies of a government hard-pressed by its xenophobic
fringe. While some immigration reform efforts in Congress hold out promise
to immigrants, most have been blocked by hardliners intent on waging
a crusade against immigrant families.
The consequences have been
catastrophic:
* The militarization of our
southern border has caused a dramatic increase in mortality. Over 4,000
corpses have been found in the desert since 1996, with dehydration and
heat stroke among the leading causes of death. 2007 is on track to be
the deadliest year on record.
* Mass workplace raids and
deportations are becoming terrifyingly commonplace. In December 2006,
1,300 Swift & Co. meat-processing workers were arrested simultaneously
in six states. It was the largest raid in immigration enforcement history.
* Raids and round-ups are
facilitated by a government program called Endgame. Creepily evocative
of the Ultimate Solution, Endgame is the Bush Administration’s
plan to “remove all removable aliens” by the year 2012.
Its bite has recently been strengthened by a compliant Congress.
The tightening of surveillance,
enforcement and prosecution has created a climate of fear in immigrant
communities not seen in this country since the 1954 civil rights debacle,
Operation Wetback.
Elvira Arellano’s deportation
is a wake-up call for America. It’s time to say, ¡Basta
ya! We’ve had enough exploitation, abuse and exclusion. It’s
time to say “Sí, se puede” – We can do it!”
to working families’ rights to healthcare, education, liberty
and legalization.
Immigrant working families
deserve our gratitude and respect. Demonizing them as “illegals”
only serves to inflame our worst ethnocentric impulses at the precise
moment in history when we most need to emphasize our best qualities—generosity
and inclusiveness.
Addressing the complexities
of immigration issues requires a serious multi-national dialogue. Such
dialogue cannot commence in earnest, however, without compassionately
and effectively addressing the humanitarian crisis on our borders, in
our barrios, and at our detention centers.
We have nothing to fear from
legalizing several million working families like Elvira and Saul Arellano
who are already productive members of our society. On the other hand,
we have plenty to fear if we succumb to ethnocentrism and revert to
the intolerance of Operation Wetback.
The Elvira Arellano snapshot
of the immigrant worker’s dilemma gives us a precious opportunity
to reflect inwardly on who we are and what we want to become in the
21st century. Such introspection brings a humanitarian clarity to our
political endeavors. It permits us to acknowledge the mothers, fathers
and children who are the economic refugees among us. It permits us to
love Elvira and Saul. That’s the endgame.
David Howard
is a teacher, writer and co-chair of Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions/CPR.
Reach him at [email protected]
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.