The Nation - News from Feb. 13, 1985
A federal judge in Phoenix dropped charges that two Catholic nuns helped smuggle Central American refugees into the United States as part of an underground church sanctuary movement. U.S. District Judge Earl Carroll said he dismissed the charges because one of the nuns is ill. Still accused in the case, the result of an Arizona federal grand jury crackdown on the sanctuary movement, are another nun, two priests, a minister and 10 other church workers. The charges against Anna Priester and Mary Waddell, members of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, were dismissed. Because of Priester’s health, Carroll said he dismissed all charges against the two nuns under the principle of protecting persons from government harassment.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
