A Judge and a Church Join the Fray : L.A.’s Oldest Catholic Parish Declares Itself a Sanctuary for Latin Refugees

Dressed in black, their faces covered by scarfs, a Salvadoran couple and a Guatemalan mother and her three children faced a standing-room-only crowd of religious leaders, public officials and worshipers Thursday as Los Angeles’ oldest church declared itself a sanctuary for Central American refugees.

As the Salvadoran woman told of having to flee her homeland under threat of death, the children held up signs that read: “El Salvador, 70,000 Persons Killed, 1980-85,” and “Guatemala, 50,000 Persons Killed.”

Our Lady Queen of Angels Church, known as La Placita by its predominantly Latino congregation, will provide food, clothing, jobs and legal assistance for illegal Central American immigrants seeking political refuge here. Parishioners have volunteered to shelter the refugees in their homes, church workers said.

Although La Placita has aided Central American refugees in the past, it has never before openly declared itself a sanctuary--and it is the first Catholic church in Los Angeles to do so. Father Luis Olivares, the church pastor, said the Los Angeles archdiocese, headed by Archbishop Roger Mahony and represented at the event by Auxiliary Bishop Juan Arzube, supports the move.

“There is no question (about Mahony’s) solidarity with us,” Olivares said.

The declaration, which comes on the heels of the City Council’s controversial action last month to declare Los Angeles a “city of refuge,” was criticized by Harold Ezell, the regional commissioner of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, as “a contrived media event.”

Ezell said the INS plans no immediate action against the church unless it becomes involved in the actual smuggling of illegal aliens. He said it is not agency policy to “enter churches or residences looking for illegal aliens.”

Immigration officials have maintained that most Salvadorans and Guatemalans who enter the United States illegally are economic, not political refugees, and are therefore not entitled to asylum in the United States.

At the church service, the Salvadoran woman, her voice quivering, said two family members were taken from their home by military men earlier this year .

“About three days later, we found them dead; their faces disfigured. They were clad only in their underwear,” she said.

Later, she said, a brother-in-law disappeared and a 20-year-old nephew was found dead along with seven of his fellow students. After she and her husband received a threatening note, she said, they fled, leaving their children with friends.

“Imagine how I feel away from them,” she said. “Yet, the President of this country continues sending arms and bombs to destroy our homes and our country.”

Citing the “long tradition (that) has taught us to stand with the poor and the oppressed,” Olivares said the church is committed to helping “the victims of violence and war who are labeled criminals” by immigration authorities and to working to end the violence in Central America.

Aware of Risks

Olivares said those involved in the sanctuary program at the church, a landmark for Los Angeles’ Latinos, are aware of the risks involved, especially in light of the trial in Tucson of 11 leaders in the nationwide religious sanctuary movement who are charged with smuggling illegal aliens into the country.

Although a few parishioners expressed mixed feelings about their church becoming a sanctuary for Central Americans, contending that the church should attend to the needs of the predominantly Mexican congregation, most said they favored the move.

“When we first arrived in this country, we suffered a lot and there was no one to give us a hand,” said a woman from Mexico who has offered to shelter a refugee family.

“We’re not rich but we are offering to share what little we have,” she said. “My children ask me why we’re doing this. They say we barely have enough for ourselves. But I tell them ‘you don’t know because you haven’t suffered.’ ”

At a press conference after the service, several public and religious leaders--including state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), Assemblywoman Gloria Molina (D-Los Angeles), City Councilman Mike Woo, Episcopal Suffragan Bishop Oliver B. Garver Jr., Rabbi Allen Freeling of the University Synagogue and actor Mike Farrell--expressed their commitment toward Central American refugees, citing the U.S. 1980 Refugee Act and international law that calls for asylum of refugees from war-torn lands.