On Sunday the U.S. government deported Elvira Arellano, 32-year-old undocumented immigrant, separating her from 8-year-old son Saul, who is a U.S. citizen. He's now staying with his family's pastor in Chicago.

Elvira is an iconic advocate of immigrant parents' rights who had taken sanctuary openly in a Chicago Methodist church for the past year. Last week she held a news conference to announce that she was leaving the church that had granted her safe harbor, and on Sunday she spoke at a rally in Los Angeles before Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took her to Tijuana.

She was forceful enough and brave enough to stand up and demand notice. That's the only reason her deportation was newsworthy. The uncounted masses of families pulled apart by deportation don't makes headlines and are invisible to most of us. Perhaps that's why we tolerate it.

Saul Arellano is a U.S. citizen, and his government took his mom away, even though she had worked hard, supported her young son, stolen nothing, and hurt no one. This is the status quo, and it is intolerable. Failing to establish a pathway to inclusion for America's 12 million undocumented immigrants is endorsing the breakup of millions of families. This is an essential fact of immigration policy, and no amount of rhetoric will change it. I don't know Saul, but I know he wants his mom back. And I know he deserves her.