CHICAGO (WBBM) - Two weeks into a hunger strike, immigration rights activist Flor Crisostomo says she is beginning to feel tired, but says her spirit "is strong."
WBBM’s Bob Roberts has the story.
Crisostomo currently faces a deportation order, 19 months after being arrested at a pallet manufacturing firm. She is trying to prod the Democratic leadership in Congress to take action to grant legal status to undocumented aliens.
"I do not want to keep the system of undocumented labor," she said in Spanish and English as she stood in front of the district office of U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, at 3742 W. Irving Park Rd. "I came here to work. I have to work to provide for my children."
Crisostomo is not alone in her crusade. Also staging a hunger strike is deported activist Elvira Arellano, who is spending much of her time in front of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
Arellano gained notoriety for seeking refuge in a Chicago church for more than a year. Within days of the time she emerged, federal immigration agents arrested and deported her.
Neither has let their status silence them.
"We are only asking that we be treated fairly and be respected for the work we have done in this country," Crisostomo said as about 20 supporters stood with her.
Crisostomo is becoming increasingly impatient with the Democratic leadership in Congress, whom she said has been "silent" on immigration issues. She singles out Emanuel as one who has the power to effect change but has not done so.
"The politicians who preach hate against us go unanswered," she said.
Crisostomo was arrested in April 2006 in a nationwide crackdown against plants operating by IFCO Systems that netted nearly 1,000 arrests nationwide and 25 locally.
She has three children, all of whom live in Mexico, and said she would like to be able to go back and forth between a job and her children's home.
Emanuel was not in his district office at the time of the protest.
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