Illegal Aliens Central America

In many ways, Mexico is to Central America what the United States is to Mexico. Workers weigh the exponentially higher wages just across the river--the Usumacinta rather than the Rio Grande--against the dangers of an illegal crossing. Wealthy parents send their children to study in prestigious universities, then worry about the foreign ideas they may bring back, if they return at all.

In many ways, Mexico is to Central America what the United States is to Mexico. Workers weigh the exponentially higher wages just across the river--the Usumacinta rather than the Rio Grande--against the dangers of an illegal crossing. Wealthy parents send their children to study in prestigious universities, then worry about the foreign ideas they may bring back, if they return at all.

A Sanctuary Movement leader convicted of conspiring to transport illegal aliens surrendered to authorities in Texas to begin serving a 179-day prison sentence. Stacey Lynn Merkt, 32, who is two months pregnant, was accompanied by her husband, her lawyer and a handful of supporters as she reported to the Fort Worth Federal Correctional Institution.

In a decision that appears to broaden the kind of "political opinions" for which refugees may seek asylum in the United States, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday blocked the deportation of an El Salvador woman who had fled from months of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of a sergeant in the Salvadoran armed forces.

In a decision that appears to broaden the kind of "political opinions" for which refugees may seek asylum in the United States, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday blocked the deportation of an El Salvador woman who had fled from months of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of a sergeant in the Salvadoran armed forces.

More than 900 people marched to MacArthur Park to show support for a proposed federal immigration law to allow up to two years of political asylum for refugees from Central American civil wars. The marchers began at Menlo Avenue and Pico Boulevard and continued for almost two hours before arriving at the park for a rally at the band shell.

Cesar and Silvia, a young Salvadoran couple, are on the move again. The couple--who, like the vast majority of their countrymen in the United States have been denied political asylum here--have packed their meager belongings into two cardboard boxes and are steeling themselves for the journey to Canada and what Silvia ominously calls "an unknown destiny." But it is preferable, Cesar said, to the danger that awaits him in El Salvador.

The jury in the sanctuary trial of 11 church workers accused of conspiring to help illegal aliens from Central America enter the country resumed its deliberations Tuesday, and later adjourned after its seventh day without a verdict. The jury, which had recessed Friday, spent 6 1/2 hours more Tuesday deliberating the 30-count indictment against the clerical and lay workers from southern Arizona and Nogales, Mexico.

President Reagan's expression of sympathy, in his Williamsburg speech, for the "cult of cheating" among taxpayers is bizarre beyond belief. I don't have any illusions about the Internal Revenue Service being a soft touch under the Reagan Administration; it's the moral basis of Reagan's remarks that offend me. Civil disobedience has a long and honorable tradition in American history. Henry David Thoreau's original stint in jail was for refusing to pay his taxes as a protest against the Mexican War. The call of a higher morality has led otherwise law-abiding citizens to aid runaway slaves, to violate segregation laws, to aid "illegal aliens" from Central America, and even to follow Thoreau's example in resisting today's war taxes at the peril of arousing the wrath of the IRS. I would be the last one to condemn civil disobedience to a higher morality.

Sixteen people, including a Protestant minister, two Roman Catholic priests and three nuns, were charged in a federal indictment today with conspiring to transport illegal aliens from Central America to obtain sanctuary in the United States. While the indictment was being served on a number of those named in Tucson, U.S. Atty. A. Melvin McDonald announced it in Phoenix.

More than 900 people marched to MacArthur Park to show support for a proposed federal immigration law to allow up to two years of political asylum for refugees from Central American civil wars. The marchers began at Menlo Avenue and Pico Boulevard and continued for almost two hours before arriving at the park for a rally at the band shell.

Cesar and Silvia, a young Salvadoran couple, are on the move again. The couple--who, like the vast majority of their countrymen in the United States have been denied political asylum here--have packed their meager belongings into two cardboard boxes and are steeling themselves for the journey to Canada and what Silvia ominously calls "an unknown destiny." But it is preferable, Cesar said, to the danger that awaits him in El Salvador.

A Sanctuary Movement leader convicted of conspiring to transport illegal aliens surrendered to authorities in Texas to begin serving a 179-day prison sentence. Stacey Lynn Merkt, 32, who is two months pregnant, was accompanied by her husband, her lawyer and a handful of supporters as she reported to the Fort Worth Federal Correctional Institution.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, appearing for the first time with her five challengers in Tuesday's election, defended her record on development and police protection at a debate Wednesday night at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills. Picus, 58, was first elected to the council in 1977 and is running for reelection representing the 3rd District.