Criminal Intent in Sanctuary Efforts Denied

The sanctuary movement to help Central Americans resettle illegally in the United States is a church ministry of “good people” working openly and not a criminal conspiracy, the lawyer for a founder of the movement declared Thursday as he began the defense’s closing arguments in the trial of 11 church workers here.

The lawyer, Robert J. Hirsh of Tucson, accused the government of trying to “sinisterize” the sanctuary movement to make it appear criminal and of paying a disreputable undercover informant hundreds of dollars to gather evidence in the process.

“We have here all kinds of people involved in church activities and church ministries acting out a church ministry,” Hirsh told the jury that has been hearing the case in federal district court here for 5 1/2 months. “They are good people.

“(Prosecutor Donald M. Reno) has taken the saving of people and the helping of people and tried to convert that into something sinister. We’ve got people on TV, we’ve got people in the newspapers, we’ve got people in magazines. . . . There was an openness about sanctuary and the way it operates.”

Hirsh represents the Rev. John M. Fife, the 45-year-old pastor of the Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson and a co-founder of the movement to open churches to people they see as political refugees from Central America. He has been indicted on one count of conspiracy to violate immigration laws and three counts of actually violating them.

Hirsh’s one-hour presentation, which is expected to continue today, was the first defense response to Reno. The defense rested its case last month without calling a single witness of its own.

Concluding his closing arguments Thursday, Reno portrayed the sanctuary movement as simple alien smuggling and not a religious exercise. He frequently cited prosecution testimony that Central Americans were advised by movement workers to lie about their citizenship--to say they were Mexicans--to avoid deportation all the way to Central America.

But Hirsh told the jury that deportation to Central America could mean summary punishment or death; he compared the advice to claim Mexican citizenship to advising Jews living under Hitler to tell “the Gestapo you’re Catholic.”

Sarcastically attacking government undercover informer Jesus Cruz, who has a criminal record, he asked the jurors: “Would you engage in a financial transaction with Jesus Cruz?”

Holding up a sheaf of payment vouchers for money the government gave Cruz, Hirsh said: “There is something terribly perverse and wicked about the way Mr. Cruz was taken care of by the government. What’s so evil and wicked is they know this guy’s a crook.”