DEMONSTRATORS STRESS STRENGTH OF THE SANCTUARY MOVEMENT

MARCH, LINCOLN MEMORIAL RALLY CULMINATE CONFERENCE

Sanctuary movement workers and supporters gathered here this weekend for a conference designed to demonstrate that the movement to shelter refugees from Central America is growing despite felony convictions this summer of eight Sanctuary workers in Tucson.

The event culminated with a march yesterday along Connecticut Avenue to Lafayette Park and then to the Lincoln Memorial, where more than 1,500 people gathered. They carried signs that said "Sanctuary Solidarity" and listened to songs, skits and speeches aimed at dramatized the plight of Central American refugees.

"This is kind of a regrouping for Sanctuary," Bishop Gus Schultz, chairman of the National Sanctuary Defense Fund and pastor of the University Chapel in Berkeley, Calif., said at a news conference yesterday.

"A lot of people were asking after the Tucson convictions, 'Is the Sanctuary movement beginning to weaken?' he said. "This weekend we can see this is not the case. The movement is strong."

More than 300 congregations, 22 cities and several universities have declared themselves sanctuaries as part of the six-year-old movement to help shelter those who have entered the United States illegally from El Salvador and Guatemala. Wisconsin Gov. Anthony Earl this month declared the state a sanctuary for Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees.

"We're white, we're black, we're Christians, we're Jews," said Glen Stein of the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism. "But we have to come together to save people who are looking to us for safety and comfort. We all have the same purpose.

"The Jewish community understands the plight of the refugee," Stein said. "We know what the indifference of citizens in this country can mean to refugees who need help."

Eight Sanctuary workers were convicted of felony charges in May for harboring illegal aliens. They were sentenced in July to three to five years' probation.

"There is no way we are going to abandon the struggle," said Sister Darlene Nicgorski, a Phoenix-based nun who was convicted of conspiracy to violate immigration laws and two counts each of transporting and aiding and abetting the harboring of illegal aliens. She was put on probation for five years.

"We will not be finished until we have reversed the railroad and accompanied the Central Americans back to El Salvador and Guatemala" once it is safe for them to return, she said.

The sentences "in no way deterred us," said the Rev. Ramon Quinones, a Sonora, Mexico, priest who was put on probation for five years. "We deeply believe we must continue this ministry with the refugees . . . as long as the war is not stopped and the tragedy in Central America continues."

Refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala praised the movement. "I call upon the Sanctuary workers to continue their work because it educates the North American public" about human rights abuses in Central America and "pressures the government to take a more positive stand," said Salvadoran refugee Omar Centurion.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.