MEXICO: The seven-year-old US-born son of a Mexican immigrant has persuaded Mexico's Congress to ask the US not to deport his mother, write Hector Tobar in Mexico City and PJ Huffstutter in Chicago
Saul Arellano fidgeted with his lucha libre wrestling toys as he walked through the halls of Mexico's Congress. Alongside him was the small retinue of US activists who have helped make him a cause celebre of the immigration debate.
The shy but persuasive US-born son of a Mexican immigrant told his story on Tuesday to legislators in spare, American-accented Spanish. "It's hard to talk to a seven-year-old," said congressman Edmundo Ramirez. "But he's made it clear he doesn't want to be separated from his mother . . . There are millions of undocumented families in the United States that are in the same position."
Saul persuaded the factions in Mexico's divided Congress to unite behind his plea: they voted unanimously to ask the US government not to deport his mother, an illegal immigrant holed up in a Chicago church.
The saga of "Little Saul" - Saulito - has captivated Mexico since he arrived on Sunday on a mission to draw attention to the plight of thousands of Hispanic families that could be divided by stricter enforcement of US immigration laws.
Interviewed in the Televisa studio by one of Mexico's most famous TV personalities, Carlos Loret de Mola, Saul offered the poignant image of a child far from home. His small body barely filled the swivel chair. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. "Do you feel a little bit Mexican?" Loret de Mola asked.
"I don't know," the boy answered in Spanish. No se.
"How did you learn Spanish?"
"I don't know."
When Loret de Mola asked Saul if he wanted to live in Mexico, the boy answered simply, "No".
"Why not?" "Because over there in Chicago is where my school is, my friends," the boy said.
The story began with Elvira's illegal border crossing and move to Washington state, where she gave birth to Saul. She settled in Chicago, where she received a deportation order by mail three months ago.
In Chicago, New York and other US cities, a growing "sanctuary" movement seeking to protect illegal immigrants from deportation has made Saulito and his mother its poster family. The Arellanos are living above the rough-hewn wooden benches of Adalberto United Methodist Church, a storefront in a Puerto Rican neighbourhood in Chicago.
"This is a fight we won't give up on," Elvira, a 31-year-old single mother, said in Spanish. "My son is an American citizen, and he deserves to have his mother by his side."
There are at least 3.1 million children like Arellano in the US, with one or more parents in the country illegally, according to a 2006 report released by the Pew Hispanic Centre.
Arellano said her trouble began in December 2001, when she was arrested and later convicted of using a fake social security number to land a job with a cleaning crew at O'Hare International Airport.
After several extensions that allowed her to stay, and a failed legal appeal, she was told to report for deportation proceedings on August 15th. "I could have run, taken Saulito to another town, found another social security number and another job," Elvira said. "I got tired of running and hiding. I wanted a better life for us, even if it meant that we'd both have to make sacrifices."
A sombre boy who dreams of becoming a firefighter, Saul has travelled to Los Angeles, stopped by the White House twice to deliver letters to President Bush and spoken at public rallies in Chicago.
The pressure has taken its toll on her son, Elvira said. Saulito has broken out in hives from stress and is seeing a therapist to deal with nightmares of his mother being dragged out of the church.
"Some people have said I'm asking too much of Saulito," Elvira said. "But he wants to do this. He wants to fight this as much as I do." On Tuesday morning, Elvira rolled out bed, slipped on a T-shirt that read "Who would Jesus Deport?" and wandered out to a living room covered in protest posters and handwritten letters from supporters around the country.
Upon hearing of the vote on Tuesday in the Mexican Congress, Elvira joined several friends and congregation members in her church's cramped kitchen to celebrate with grape juice and a prayer. Then, the group raised their glasses and cheered: "To Saulito! Our lobbyist!" - (LA Times Washington Post service)