The State - News from Sept. 22, 1986

The U.S. government is ignoring international standards for refugees and discriminating against Central Americans by deporting them in disproportionate numbers, said lawyers for churches endorsing sanctuary for Salvadorans and Guatemalans. The federal government is also trying to destroy the sanctuary movement by targeting church groups for prosecution, the attorneys argued in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The churches sued the federal government in March, 1985, seeking a ban on federal prosecution of church sanctuary workers for harboring or transporting illegal aliens, and a suspension of deportation of refugees to El Salvador and Guatemala while “armed conflict” exists there. Government attorneys, seeking to have the suit dismissed, said a determination of whether Salvadorans and Guatemalans are entitled to refugee status is a political decision that should not be made by a federal judge.