Priests Probed Over Alleged Aid to Aliens

In an escalating showdown over the issue of sanctuary for illegal aliens in churches, federal officials Thursday revealed that they are investigating whether three Los Angeles priests have illegally harbored and transported aliens, while critics castigated the government for harassment of the priests and a recent raid on an Orange County church.

Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said their investigation into activities at the downtown Our Lady Queen of Angels, referred to as “La Placita,” and nearby Mission Dolores Catholic churches, involves the possible harboring, aiding and abetting and transporting of illegal aliens.

The issue under investigation, INS Western Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell said during a press conference, is whether priests at the two Los Angeles churches are “encouraging illegal immigration, smuggling and knowingly harboring recent arrivals.”

Noting that priests at the two churches have repeatedly and openly described their assistance of illegal immigrants and Central American refugees, Ezell said the intent of the investigation is to determine whether “this is a lot of smoke and mirrors or if they are doing what they say they are doing.”

Church leaders and members of the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles pledged to support the three Los Angeles priests and accused the INS of violating the religious concept of “safe haven” by arresting seven illegal immigrants after entering a church in Orange earlier this week.

Although INS agents have reportedly been looking into allegations for several months, neither Father Luis Olivares--one of the targets of the probe--nor his attorney said they are aware of any agency contact within Los Angeles’ immigrant community thus far.

“I’ve seen no untoward activities,” Olivares said. “Whatever is being done is being done covertly.” Olivares said he has been advised by his attorney, Peter Schey, that the INS involvement appears to be a preliminary step toward a criminal investigation by the FBI. But authorities say the FBI is not currently involved.

The other priests named last week as targets of the probe are Olivares’ associate pastor, Father Michael Kennedy, and Father Gregory Boyle, pastor at Mission Dolores in Boyle Heights. Thursday was the first time officials explained the nature of their inquiry.

While the priests have publicly stated that their religious convictions compel them to offer shelter, food and other basic assistance to illegal immigrants, Olivares denied that they “have been involved in any type of transporting of the undocumented across any state lines or international border.”

Schey said the priests are providing services to their parishioners that are traditionally performed by churches.

“If schools can admit children without regard to their immigration status, surely a church can provide shelter for the homeless and give them food,” Schey said. “To say otherwise displays an abysmal ignorance of the thrust of the First Amendment. People have historically expressed their beliefs through acts of charity and kindness.”

In recent years, scores of activist churches throughout the country have declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal aliens, updating a traditional Christian concept dating back to the powerful European churches of the Middle Ages.

But as a legal concept, that notion has been rejected by most American constitutional scholars. While law enforcement has traditionally tended to respect the sanctity of places of worship, legal scholars say there is no basis for forbidding police agencies from conducting business or investigations on church property. In May, 1986, for example, eight sanctuary activists were convicted in a federal court in Phoenix for smuggling illegal aliens over the border and sheltering them. The case is under appeal.

Halt Demanded

During a press conference held outside the Federal Building, immigrant rights groups and supporters called on the INS to cease its investigation and demanded a public statement from Ezell that the agency will “never again invade a church . . . or other place of worship in pursuit of allegedly undocumented men and women.”

The activists also criticized the activities of the INS agent who reportedly chased two illegal immigrants into the church in Orange on Tuesday and emerged with seven aliens who were promptly arrested.

Although Ezell said earlier that the INS raid on the Orange County church was “regrettable,” on Thursday he belittled the notion that churches could be used as a refuge from INS agents.

“There is no such thing as sanctuary,” he said. “Those who say they are obeying a higher law (by providing sanctuary to illegal aliens) are playing a joke on the public.”

Ezell criticized sanctuary supporters as adherents of leftist “liberation theology.”

In reference to the Orange County arrests, Ezell said that standard INS policy is “we don’t go into churches, nor schools or hospitals” in pursuit of aliens. Calling the arrests “an isolated, regrettable situation,” he said he planned to refine INS policy to avoid similar situations.

Meanwhile, the seven men arrested in the church dropped their request for a hearing before an immigration judge and were to be returned to Mexico on Thursday evening.