On Jan. 28, Flor Crisóstomo, a 28-year-old immigrant worker and activist from Mexico defied an Immigrant and Customs Enforcement deportation order. She took sanctuary in the same Chicago church—Adalberto United Methodist—where Elvira Arellano resisted the government for over a year.
In 2006, ICE raided more than 40 IFCO System work sites and arrested Crisóstomo, along with more than 1,100 other
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At a Jan. 28 press conference in Chicago, Crisóstomo said, “I am taking a stand of civil disobedience to make America see what they are doing.”
While Arellano faced being separated from her son if she was deported, Flor Crisóstomo’s situation is different. It is a problem that is rarely discussed in the capitalist media. Crisostomo is already separated from her three children.
Because of the devastation caused by NAFTA in Mexico, Crisóstomo was unable to find a job that would provide the basic needs for her family—two boys and a girl who range in age from 9 to 14. In July 2000, she left her children with her mother and came to the United States so she could send her family the money they needed to support themselves.
Crisóstomo paid a smuggler to take her across the border. For three days she lived in desert-like conditions until she made it to Los Angeles. A month later, she found work at IFCO Systems, working 10 hours a day, six days a week and earning $360 a week. That comes out to $6 an hour.
Every week she would send $300 of her earnings to her children for food, clothes and school books, while living in a two-bedroom apartment with four other women in order to keep costs down.
Even though Crisóstomo faces threats of deportation, she has not stood in the background. She was an outspoken activist during Elvira Arellano’s sanctuary. On Jan. 21, she participated in a march against racism in New York where she confronted racist news personality Lou Dobbs.
The U.S. government is currently waging a vicious campaign of military-style raids against immigrant workers in communities, homes and at job sites. The corporate media promote racist lies, attacking and demonizing immigrant workers every day.
The attacks against immigrants are meant to weaken the struggle for equality and justice for all workers. Crisóstomo’s supposed “crime” is simply her desire to support her family through hard work. Her resistance is heroic. She deserves the support of every worker and progressive.
