Michel,

I guess that those of us who know your e-mail address feel so privileged to have such contact information...

YOU'VE GOT MAIL!

Sent by Steve Petersen | 9:36 AM ET | 08-24-2007

I don't feel that she should be compared to Rosa Parks. Unfortunately, Elvira stated in front of the Mexican congress that the U.S. is to blame because she had to come here and also pay taxes. Wouldn't that have been the perfect time to point out the injustices of the Mexican government? Why didn't she ask them why people are leaving Mexico? How can Mexico make things better for their people. They like to point out that the U.S. is responsible for seperating families. I say that it is people like Elvira who seperate themselves from family. At least she only had one child. Many others have more as they feel it will solidify their existence in the United States.

Sent by Humberto | 10:56 AM ET | 08-24-2007

Do not connect this lady's name with Rosa Parks. The two are not similar. Rosa Parks was a U.S. Citizen she had a right to demand change. 300 years of slavery gave her a right. Are you really saying the the United States is responsible for granting legal status to anyone who has a child born in our country? Parents and children are connected, children go where the parents go. If I have a chld in France my child still resides with me. If I leave France the child leaves with me. My country of orgin is the child's country of orgin until such time the child is able to legally migrate to another country. Thier is no obligation to someone who has broken the laws of our country. Why does someone who is not a citizen have a right to demand change in our country? Why would a person not make demands on thier own government?

Sent by Peggy Green | 11:00 AM ET | 08-24-2007

If you really prefer blog comments then I'll post this here.

With regards to the Elvira Arellano segment during the Barbershop roundtable their comments mostly throughout were disturbing. It sounded callous, opinionated, and to be honest in an around about way bigotry.

But Michel you brought things back by asking the very thing that I was thinking. Please forgive the paraphrasing but essentially, "What made Rosa Park's actions any different?"

That really brought things back to earth. At least that is my opinion.

I don't do these blogs or blogging. The closest thing was posting some comments on a test webpage back in the mid-90s before this whole blogging thing came about. But your one basic question at that one very important moment was just too important for me not to comment on. It resulted in googling and looking for a way to make contact.

So thank you Michel, you are one topnotch program host.

Sent by Robert Simpson | 1:38 PM ET | 08-24-2007

This is a very sensitive issue. I feel the person at a loss in all the drama. But I must say one of my pet peeves is reading someone's controversial plight as a comparison to any civil rights matter or worse, a civil rights icon.

Elvira Arellano is no Rosa Parks. Parks was a legal, tax paying citizen denied of her constitutional rights on the grounds that "all men are created equal." So Parks civil disobedience on that bus should not be trivialized by comparing it to Arellano hiding for an illegal activity in a church.

Sent by Moji | 4:44 PM ET | 08-24-2007

The United States is part of a global economy and American citizens benefit daily from the cheaper and more varied product selection due to this participation.

Our political policies due not reflect our economic realities. People come to the United States because they do not have access to jobs and there are American employers who need and want their labor in the United States. It???s supply meeting demand. When Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement our relationship with (and responsibility to) Mexico became deeper and more profound. This trade agreement has greatly benefited the American consumer and had an enormous impact on Mexican labor markets. While it was not the beginning of illegal immigration, it has certainly helped ot fuel it. Why do our immigration policies not reflect our economic agenda?

Her son was born on American soil and by definition is an American citizen. He will likely grow up with access to more resources if he stays here, in his country of origin. What kind of a mother would not want her child to go to better schools and have a chance to enjoy the kind of life that she could only dream of?

I am embarrassed that people do not see us as having a responsibility to the global community when we benefit from the global economy everytime we go to the grocery store.

Sent by Laura Herbert | 4:43 AM ET | 08-25-2007

I have a problem with an illegal immigrant's stand being compared to Rosa Parks'. Elvira's answer to the injustice of her country was to flee for another country. Furthermore, she knowingly broke our laws. Now one can argue that the laws are unfair...but they are still U.S. laws - and she broke them. Rosa Parks, on the otherhand was a law-abiding, tax-paying U.S. CITIZEN that chose to fight the injustices of HER country by staying put (no pun intended). Being a black woman in the U.S. during that time was NO JOKE. Rosa's demonstration started a movement that brought awareness of how UNCONSTITUTIONAL Jim Crow Laws are IN HER COUNTRY. When Elvira becomes a US citizen, she can join the fight to change the immigration laws of the U.S. Until then...what are the Mexican people doing to change conditions of THEIR country...on the level of Civil Rights heroines like Rosa Parks?

Sent by Lori Washington | 1:24 PM ET | 08-25-2007

Elvira Arellano, story I did hear about a while back, concerning her being holdup in some church in Chicago. The problem is not just with Elvira Arellano, trying to rap herself in the Rosa Parks identity, but with the whole thrust of the immigration movement, appropriating, and using, the Civil Rights movement as a cover. Appropriating the Civil Rights movement as a template ; I do somewhat understand, they, (Latino immigrant ) will not be the first , nor the last to do so, but what I do object to, is the total disregard, & disdain they seem to have for the African American community (not all, but many do). It seems to me at times... that the Latino immigrant especially, the Mexican immigrant , has a very callous way of showing respect, to the history, & plight of the African American peoples, in this country. Are the immigrents just insensitive or doe's it all get "Lost In Translation," due to language & cultural understading? African American have paid a very high price for the Freedoms & Rights that so many, take for granted, including what younger African Americans, in this country enjoy. Are we to be the stepping stone that each group, that enters the United States, steps on, to their piece of the "American pie", without even a thank you, or acknowledgment, of the foundation that makes it possible, for them to enjoy, "The American Dream "? If one thinks of the backlash from the "Right" is bad now, think of what it would have been like pre Civil Rights ! ( Their movement could have never happened . )
From my understanding their has never been a time in history where all the many peoples of the earth lived in one place at the same time, except if you count the Bliblical account of Nimrod & the Tower of Babel. So we, at the beginning of the 21century, must find a way to affirm, embrace,& most of all respect, each of our many narratives, cultural, ethnic , & sexual identities; that will make for a richer, wider, global interconnectedness, that I feel the 21century will, demand of us, or it will truly be, a "Tower Of Babel" !

Sent by Robert H. | 9:07 PM ET | 08-25-2007

I am excited to hear that you are covering women's health and will be tuning in. I work for an organization that may be of interest to you as it intersects long-term care and women's health. Please contact me at my email address for more information.

Sent by Tameshia | 11:41 PM ET | 08-25-2007

Rosa Parks was an American.
My wife came here legally at great cost to me and I had to make promises that she would never receive public assistance.
I think that the attitude of many illegals is that they have a right to be here. They do, if they come here legally.
I am a social worker and I work in a big emergency room in Southern California. Believe me I know the hidden costs of illegal immigration and I resent it. SoCal is being turned into a third world country with people who think like Elvira and her supporters. Would Mexico accept a million refugees from Darfur who are only looking for a better opportunity and a peaceful place to raise their family?

Sent by Bob Lanz | 12:09 AM ET | 08-26-2007

Michel, I have noticed you for the first time. This was on Bill Maher's show Friday and I was very impressed with your knowledge, commitment, and speaking ability. You beat all the rest, hands down, and are a person worth listening to.

Sent by Peter Wohld | 7:31 PM ET | 08-26-2007

I have to chime in here after reading some of the responses. I find it disturbing that so many people seem to believe that civil rights are something that are reserved only for American citizens. Some sort of elitist thinking. The constitution is intended to guarantee us these rights, however they are basic human rights that should be extended to all people. And it is the duty of each of us to work towards that end.

Sent by D. B. Ingram | 11:17 PM ET | 08-30-2007

Elvira is nothing but a criminal. She illegally entered the U.S. and lived here for 10 yrs with false documents. She chose to break the law, and chose to buy fake ID's. She has no respect for U.S. law and obviously cannnot comprehend that what she did was wrong. She actually has the nerve to blame America!! Like we held a friggin gun to her head and forced her to run across the border. Elvira needs to take some responsibility and admit that she did break U.S. law and was rightfully deported. Comparing her the Rosa Parks is appalling. It demeans Everything that Parks stood for.

Sent by selena | 6:05 PM ET | 08-31-2007

Elvira Arellano is Spanish For Rosa Parks. Ms Parks correctly concluded that there was no legal or factual basis for treating Afro-Americans like 2nd class citizens.

Ms Arellano came to the same conclusion.

The ONLY criminals are the neonazis who are executing the Unconstitutional immigration "Laws"

Sent by Contumacious | 5:40 PM ET | 09-03-2007

"Do not connect this lady's name with Rosa Parks. The two are not similar. Rosa Parks was a U.S. Citizen she had a right to demand change."

So are we implying here that if one is not an America, that they shouldn't have rights afforded to her that Americans are afforded? What about permanent residents? What distinguishes an American from a Mexican immigrant; a slip of paper and a language or paying taxes? Are both not human beings? If Rosa Parks can protest because of her God given rights to the dignity, and Elvira Arellano does the same, what is the distinction between these two?

Dear Arellano,

You can have all the rights you want, just not here. Please, just go back to your own country where there is close no means to support yourself. You are inconveniencing those of us who are of legal status. If you were born on the RIGHT side of the border, you could have shared in this prosperity, but alas, fate has deemed otherwise.

with smug satisfaction,
you neighbor to the north

P.S.
If you should again try to risk life and limb crossing the desert to try and tear that look of certitude from the face of destiny; who has obligated you to a arduous existence, please don't. We have a fence.

Sent by Johnathan Dough | 1:37 PM ET | 09-04-2007