Government’s Sanctuary Case

Your editorial (Oct. 26), “The Sanctuary Case,” indicates you have given this matter a closer scrutiny than columnist Edwin Yoder reveals in his article (Editorial Pages, Oct. 29), “Sanctuary Case Bedevils the Church-State Issue.”

Someone should point out to Yoder that the defense of the 11 indictees is not based solely upon appeal to a “higher law” of God as justification for the harboring and transporting of Salvadoran and Guatemalan asylum-seekers. They recognize that in deporting these refugees back to their countries of origin, the U.S. government has willfully and persistently been in violation of international law and the findings of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Reagan Administration stubbornly maintains the contrived label of “economic migrant” to distinguish Salvadorans and Guatemalans from those who are readily recognized as political refugees when they flee Vietnam, Poland or Ethiopia. The Sanctuary defendants have acted in obedience to a “higher law” of God after first facing up to the lawlessness and failure to justly administer existing U.S. law by a “scofflaw” Administration.

Additionally, Yoder fails to recognize the separation of church and state as a cloudier issue than he imagines. Defense and protection of life are basic and inseparable from religion. It lies fully within the “everyday business” of the church. In that sense, “Reaganology,” as described by Yoder, is not far from the mark in claiming that religion premeates civil endeavors and is therefore an essential buttress of democracy. Yoder’s easy dismissal of that notion reveals a basically secular orientation. Only from that perspective could he possibly conclude that a trial in which the Sanctuary defendants are denied defense based upon religious convictions, international law or refugee law corresponds to a playing field that is level for all the players.

DONALD LINDSAY SMITH

Los Angeles

Rev. Smith is chairman of the Office Immigration and Refugee Resettlement Commission of the Southern California Ecumenical Council.