A free lunch will be served.
This event is free and open to the public.
Seating is limited. Reservations are required and can be made at 312.413.5353.
Join outspoken immigration activist Emma Lozano, President of Centro Sin Fronteras; Reverend Walter L. Coleman of Adalberto United Methodist Church, where Elvira Arellano took sanctuary on August 15, 2006; Alie Kabba of United African Organization Inc.; and Young Son Song of the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center.
Elvira Arellano will take part in the conversation via phone.
Elvira Arellano is a 31-year-old single mother, former airport worker, and undocumented immigrant who took sanctuary last August at Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago. Arellano was arrested in 2002 as part of a post-9/11 sweep of airport workers with unregistered social security numbers. At that time she refused voluntary deportation and won a stay of deportation through private bills introduced in Congress on her behalf. During the next four years she emerged as a leader in the struggle for undocumented immigrants’ rights by calling for a moratorium on raids and deportations, meeting with U.S. Congressmen and Senators in Washington, and co-founding (with Emma Lozano) La Familia Latina Unida, an organization of families with U.S. citizen children facing separation from undocumented parents. Arellano entered sanctuary with her son Saul, a U.S. citizen, after the Department of Homeland Security refused her stay of deportation in August 2006.
Beyond the Headlines: Elvira Arellano’s Story is co-sponsored by the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and Chicago Public Radio’s Chicago Amplified.
This event is part of The Public Square at the IHC’s Artists, Authors and Activists After Hours (AAAH) program series. AAAH events are intimate, informal discussions over meals that allow for meaningful exchanges among people who share some connection to the work of a visiting artist. Since coalition building is one of the cornerstones of social change, AAAH programs are structured to give individuals a chance to meet others engaged in similar struggles and projects.
A free lunch will be served. Please call 312.413.5353 for more information or to register.