Five Sanctuary Activists Put on Probation

Five members of the church-based sanctuary movement, convicted of violating immigration laws for helping Central Americans fleeing their homelands, were spared prison sentences and fines Tuesday by a federal judge.

Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge Earl H. Carroll imposed probation restrictions designed to curb their sanctuary activities.

But the stage was only set for further confrontation as the defendants expressed their determination to continue assisting people whom they called refugees from “rape, torture and murder” in their strife-torn Central American homelands.

During a daylong sentencing hearing here, the activists, who had presented no defense during their six-month trial, made their first courtroom statements, their first presentations of the motives, beliefs and circumstances that eventually brought them before the judge for sentencing on a variety of felony immigration violations.

“In most sentencings, the defendants are supposed to understand the error of their ways and be remorseful,” said Margaret J. (Peggy) Hutchison, 30. “I am remorseful, but only for the refugees from Central America. . . . I don’t plan on stopping my involvement.”

Eight of 11 sanctuary movement activists who stood trial were convicted May 1 of 16 felony charges growing out of an undercover Immigration and Naturalization Service investigation that included the infiltration of church meetings. Five of the eight were sentenced Tuesday; the remaining three are scheduled to be sentenced today.

Suspended Sentences

All five received suspended prison sentences; four received five years of probation and one three years of probation.

Government officials expressed satisfaction. “I’m satisfied with the sentences,” said Ruth Anne Myers, district director of the INS in Phoenix. “I would hope that it would be a deterrent, that there are consequences to pay.”

“A resonable disposition,” said special assistant U.S. Atty. Donald Reno, who prosecuted the case. “The message that’s been sent to the fringe element of this movement is that (a jury is) not going to buy that party line. It has been rejected wholeheartedly. The taxpayer, the silent majority has never accepted . . . their alleged Christian motives.”

Believed Rooted in Church

The sanctuary movement sees itself as rooted in the church, in a ministry to help those fleeing repression and death. In Tuesday’s hearing, there were frequent references to the Holocaust, the Bible, the centennial celebration of the Statue of Liberty and the personal stories told by Central Americans of abuses and death there.

Two defendants, Wendy LeWin, 26, a former worker with the Central American Refugee Project, and Maria del Socorro Pardo de Aguilar, a 60-year-old widow and Catholic lay worker from Mexico, wept as they recounted their experiences in working with Central Americans.

In imposing the sentences, Carroll touched off a confusing series of events that included a directive to three of the five that they not “associate with any person or organization engaging in or aiding and abetting in” illegal activities in the course of assisting Central Americans.

After protests from some defendants that they may not be able to comply, Carroll later said he would consider a condition that they not directly engage in or aid or abet those activities.

Nun Cites Order

“I’m certainly glad,” said Sister Darlene Nicgorski, who had expressed doubts that she could comply because her order, the School Sisters of St. Francis, is committed to helping undocumented aliens and refugees. “But I still have some difficulty with his forbidding the transporting, concealing, shielding and harboring (of illegals) as this court defines it.”

The five sanctuary movement workers sentenced to probation Tuesday were:

--Hutchison, a Methodist lay worker, five years’ probation, who told Carroll: “I was taught that my beliefs don’t mean anything unless I put them into action. . . . I stand before you to proclaim we are facing another holocaust in Central America.”

--Nicgorski, a Roman Catholic nun, five years’ probation, who said: “I am prepared to go to prison if that is necessary. I cannot abandon the Central Americans. . . . I am at peace. It is the price of living out my conscience, my faith.”

--Philip Willis-Conger, also a Methodist lay worker, five years’ probation: “Any discomfort, any concern because of any sentence, I realize it’s nothing compared to what the refugees have experienced in Central America.”

--LeWin, three years’ probation: “I don’t feel guilty. I don’t feel I did anything but as a human response. . . . It’s embarrassing to be crying in front of this many people, but I think I’d be more embarrassed if I were not moved.”

--Pardo de Aguilar, who stood trial although it was not required because she is a Mexican national and was sentenced to five years’ probation: “I am happy because the people judge me and the people’s voice is the voice of God, and I only ask God, Let it be . . . that there are many Socorro Aguilars inside and outside this country.”