Imagine that you are a top-ranking official in the U.S. government. You have control over most sections of government, as well as a strong influence over those parts of it that you don’t directly control. What would you change if you were in this position? You could create a universal health care system or allocate more funds to our nation’s public schools. You could put a moratorium on the death penalty or withdraw troops from Iraq. Or what about this option: you could use your power to deport a single mother who is struggling to give her only son a better life in America.

Well, if you were a member of the current administration, you would pick the last one. The woman in question is Elvira Arellano, who was born in Mexico but has lived and worked in the United States as an undocumented immigrant for nearly a decade. During her time here, she has also founded “La Familia Latina Unida,” an organization that provides aid to undocumented immigrant families. Recently, Elvira was issued a deportation order, obligating her to return to Mexico. The problem: her 7-year-old son, Saul, was born in the United States, and is, thus, a U.S. citizen. This deportation order would force Elvira to leave her son, who is currently being treated for ADHD. So, instead of complying with the order, Elivra has taken refuge in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where she has been a parishoner for years. With the federal government unwilling to enter the church to retrieve her, Elvira continues to resist her ordered deportation.

But why does it matter that one woman almost 700 miles away from Ithaca is resisting her deportation, especially when there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., including 500,000 others facing deportation orders? First, Elvira is a perfect example of the plight facing undocumented immigrants in this country. Consider why she came to the U.S. in the first place. Her family consisted of rural farmers, living off the proceeds of their crops for years. However, as neo-liberal policies supported by the U.S. government like NAFTA came into effect in Mexico, Elvira’s family could no longer make ends meet off their farming. Cheap agriculture from the U.S., supported by government-paid subsidies, flooded the Mexican market and forced families like Elvira’s deeper into poverty. In order to try to provide a better life for herself and her family, Elvira came to work in the U.S. Like so many others, she had to sneak into the country because, although neo-liberal policies have made it easy for money and goods to flow across borders, movement of workers is still heavily controlled. Elvira, along with the rest of the undocumented population, is not simply some lazy individual looking for a free ride from the “generous” welfare system in the U.S. Rather, she came here to work so that she and her family could lead a dignified life.

Another reason why Elvira is a perfect example of the plight of undocumented workers is that her deportation is being done in the name of “national security” and “the war on terror.” Since 9/11, the government has dramatically increased its raids on the undocumented immigrant population. The government and the mainstream media tell us this is being done for our own safety, to “protect us from the terrorists.” While I want our country to be safe just like anyone else, I cannot understand how deporting a working single mother is helping us win the war on terror. These immigration raids are simply being used to divert the American public’s attention away from the increasingly negative situation in the Middle East. Elvira is neither a terrorist nor a criminal. As she told supporters not long ago, “[Her] only crime was to work to support [her] son.”

But Elvira shouldn’t be seen as simply an illustration of the many undocumented workers in this country. Nor should she simply be viewed as an “exception” to this population, as so many politicians have tried to spin the situation, by supporting a “private law” granting only Elvira permanent resident status without addressing the needs of all others being harmed by these immigration raids.

Every social movement needs leaders. Mario Savio galvanized the student population during the Berkley Free Speech Movement in 1963. Cindy Sheehan relegitimized protest for the anti-war movement in 2005. And perhaps one of the most famous leaders in recent times, Rosa Parks, woke up the Civil Right’s movement in 1955 by refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a public bus. Through her own act of resistance, Elvira has the potential to reignite the immigrants’ rights movement.

Most of us have been taught that Rosa Parks was simply a tired old seamstress who was just too exhausted to get up. In reality, Parks was a dedicated activist who had been working in the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery for years. Her decision was a calculated one, meant to spur others around her to action. The same can be said for Elvira’s decision to resist her deportation order. She is not defying the law for her own self-seeking purposes. Rather, she is an example to the millions of undocumented workers here in the U.S. Elvira can be an inspiration to these people, as well as all those individuals being persecuted in the “war on terror.”

In a recent interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Elvira told listeners, “I am going to fight so that my son and I will be respected. So that all undocumented immigrants will be respected.” Elvira has taken the lead. Now the question is: will we stand up behind her?

Laura Taylor is a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She can be contacted at lat34@cornell.edu. Kind of a Big Deal appears Tuesdays.