CHICAGO—Four weeks since she first took sanctuary in a church here and refused to turn herself in to immigration cops for deportation, Elvira Arellano continues to stand firm and win support.

Arellano, whose seven-year-old son Saul is a U.S. citizen, was arrested in December 2002 while working as an airplane cleaner at O’Hare airport. She won three one-year stays of deportation before being ordered deported.

On August 30, three members of the ultrarightist Mothers against Illegal Aliens protested in front of the Adalberto United Methodist Church, where Arellano is staying. They claimed she abuses her son physically and mentally by keeping him in the church. Michelle Dallacroce, founder of the rightist group, said, “Illegal alien women are producing and utilizing children as hostages until demands for citizenship are met.”

The next day, representatives of the Service Employees International Union, Laborers, Casa Aztlán, and other organizations held a press conference at the church. They called for support to Arellano’s fight against deportation.

—ROLLANDE GIRARD