Elvira Arellano, a latter-day Rosa Parks, is leaving the Adalberto United Methodist Church in the Humboldt Park district of Chicago after one full year of living there, invoking sanctuary, to prevent her deportation. She's taking her case directly to Washington, D.C., where she will urge Congress to finally pass some immigration reform so that she won't be separated from her U.S.-born son Saul. There's good footage from her farewell press conference at Chicago's NBC5. Read more at Chicago Tribune and from the AP.
Keep mind this brave woman was born in 1975, making her just 31 or 32. Of all the media coverage I've seen, ColorLines above all gives Arellano the respect she deserves, with a multimedia feature and a link to Saul's letter to President Bush, which begins:
I Saul Arellano age 7 an American citizen, do now formally request a mettin with President George W. Bush. I request that he grant safe passage for my mother, Elvira Arellano, so that she can be with me at this meeting and can return safely to our Church. I request also that our United Methodist Pastor, Rev. Walterd L. Coldman and his wife, Emma Lozano and my Congresmen Luis V. Gutierrez, Boby Rush, and Rafael Pulido and Abel Uribe and my friend Daysha Delvalle also be present at this meeting.
You can see it written by his hand. See also "Remember the Immigrant Rights Movement?"