Speech #990026644

Last month. two women who participated in a trip to Nicaragua sponsored by the American Lutheran Church Women complained In a written report to Rep. Vin Weber. RMinn.. that the trip had been turned into "two weeks of intensive antiUnited States. proSandinista Indoctrination." As many as 200 churches across the country also are involved in a "sanctuary" movement. in which Illegal immigrants from Central America are clandestinely brought into the United States and hidden from Immigration and Naturalization Service agents who might seek their deportation. according to Elliott Abrams. assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs. But wrote the Rev. Philip C. Cleary. chairman of the Association of Chicago Priests. "these refugees are quite literally fleeing for their lives. They are fleeing civil war and repressive governments that have been bolstered by the United States government." "After fleeing such repression. to be sent back to their countries by the INS often means persecution. torture or death. For the INS to deport such refugees is completely immoral." Rev. Cleary wrote in 1982. A study produced in January by the Washingtonbased MidAtlantic Research Associates states that the churches have been drawn into the movement by leftist groups whose real goal is overthrow of El Salvadors government. "The national sanctuary movement is coordinated by supporters of Central Americas Soviet- and Cubanbacked revolutionaries who have been engaged in a terrorist armed struggle since the lP0s." the study said.