On April 15 2007, I began a two day project photographing illegal immigrant Elvira Arellano who has spent eight whole months inside the Adalberto United Methodist church in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago, which maintained it was a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. On August 19, 2007, having traveled to California to make appearances, Arellano was arrested by outside of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in downtown Los Angeles and deported to Mexico. It was an interesting assignment made even more difficult by my poor spanglish and Arellano’s inability to speak English. Only today did I learn that her son Saul, was born in my native Oregon.
Elvira Arellano (C) and her son Saul, 8, attend Sunday services in Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, April 15, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Arellano, 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)A sign stating a phone number for the White House and President Bush is tapped to the wall beneath a painting of the Last Supper in the apartment of Elvira Arellano inside Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, April 18, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Arellano, 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)Elvira Arellano straightens up her and her son's bedroom inside Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, April 18, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Arellano, 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)Elvira Arellano and her son Saul 8 watch as parishioners leave Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago from their apartment over the sanctuary, April 15, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Arellano, 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)Elvira Arellano takes out the trash by throwing it off the deck of her apartment inside Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, April 18, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Arellano, 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)A cyclist rides past Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, April 15, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Elvira Arellano , 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)Elvira Arellano uses a computer as her son Saul, 8, eats an ice cream bar and watches cartoons in their apartment inside Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, April 18, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Arellano, 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)Elvira Arellano (R) gets a hug from immigration activist Jorge Islas-Martinez in her apartment's kitchen in Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, April 15, 2007. April 15th marked the 8th month that the Mexican-born Arellano, 32, has been fighting a deportation order from inside the Chicago church where she has imprisoned herself, invoking the ancient medieval protection of sanctuary. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)
