Sanctuary Movement

Sanctuary Movement

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The Sanctuary Movement was a political / spiritual movement in the 1970's - to the mid-eighties consisting of leftist churches who encouraged illegal immigration from Central America.

The Sanctuary Movement's co-founder Jim Corbett "made it clear" to the New York Times "that gaining popular support for opposition to Government policies as well as aiding individuals was a crucial part of the movement's approach."

Background

From Arden Buck posted at the Friends Journal, a Quaker publication:

"As a Quaker who acted on his beliefs, Corbett didn’t just stand by and let such injustice happen. He and his wife began secretly housing refugees in their home in Tucson, Arizona. He recruited John M. Fife III, a Presbyterian minister, and Ricardo Elford, a Catholic priest, and together they started the Sanctuary Movement. Corbett mailed letters to 500 Quaker churches and groups, seeking their help. They then organized an underground railroad to Canada—a system for passing refugees from church to church across the country in violation of immigration laws. This effort involved hundreds of Quaker meetings and other churches.

The Sanctuary Movement was described by the Los Angeles Times in 1985 as "a network of 200 U.S. churches that ignore laws and provide refuge to Salvadorans and Guatemalans."

Members of the Sanctuary Movement

The Sanctuary Movement was about Politics, not Migrants

Prominent members of the Sanctuary Movement included Jack Elder and Stacey Merkt, who founded RAICES in the mid-1980's.

New York Times Profile

On May 6 1986, Peter Applebome profiled the Sanctuary Movement for the New York Times:

"The hand-painted sign outside the Southside Presbyterian Church here is so stark and simple as to have an almost biblical quality.

Este es el santuario para los oprimidos de Centro America, it reads, This is the sanctuary for the oppressed of Central America.

"There is very little else quite so clear about the loosely knit sanctuary movement, eight of whose leaders were convicted last week on felony charges involving the smuggling of Central Americans into the country.

"The movement began four years ago when five American churches declared themselves sanctuaries for Central American refugees. It has become an unlikely mix of action and symbol, religion and politics, and operates in at least 34 states both in accordance with and in violation of United States immigration laws.

"Extent of Movement

"It has been endorsed by about 300 churches and synagogues, about 20 cities, the State of New Mexico and several major religious denominations. Hundreds of church workers in congregations that have not declared themselves sanctuaries are also involved.

"Government officials say, however, that the movement is more political than religious, and that even good motives do not justify violating the law.

"Interviews with sanctuary church members around the country show a movement that has benefited from both deep commitment and a shrewd sense of politics.

"I don't think any of us anticipated this would happen on a natonwide [sic] level, said Jim Corbett, one of the movement's co-founders. He was one of three movement members who were acquitted here last week while eight others were convicted.

"The fact that it has grown as much as it has, he said, is a reflection that we're drawing on the most deep-seated religious traditions in Western civilization.

U.S. Hopes on Convictions

"The Federal prosecutor, Donald M. Reno, said he believed the verdict here would serve as a deterrent to those involved in the movement.

"But activists say the ruling will have the opposite effect. They cite a dramatic increase in the number of congregations that have joined the movement since the 11 church workers were indicted.

"You can't stop a movement of faith by putting people in jail, said the Rev. John M. Fife, the minister of Southside Presbyterian. A co-founder of the movement, he who was one of the church workers convicted here. All the prosecution will do is provide the sanctuary movement with more martyrs which always provides a sense of renewal for any spiritual movement.

"The sanctuary movement, which organizers describe as a blend of protection, support and advocacy, stems from a fundamental disagreement with immigration officials over United States policy in Central America.

Basic Disagreement

"The United States says aliens from Central America are coming here primarily for economic reasons and thus are entering the country illegally along with thousands of others streaming across the border from Mexico.

"Sanctuary activists say most Central Americans are refugees fleeing the violence of the American-backed regimes in El Salvador and Guatemala and entitled to asylum here under immigration law.

"The founders, Mr. Fife and Mr. Corbett, a Quaker church worker, say the movement was born when they decided United States immigration officials were not granting asylum to Central Americans who met the law's criteria that they faced persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

"We had people with torture marks on their bodies, people who were clearly fleeing for their lives, routinely turned down, Mr. Fife said. After a few months, Jim Corbett looked at things and said: 'This is ethically absurd. We're just turning people in for deportation.'

"In looking for a new approach, church leaders here and in the Bay Area of San Francisco independently arrived at a similar approach.

An Ancient Tradition

"Churches would publicly declare themselves sanctuaries for people fleeing El Salvador and Guatemala in accordance with the ancient Judeo-Christian and Greek tradition recognizing houses of religion as sanctuaries.

"Part of the purpose was practical, providing refuge to people churches felt were in need. But part was strategic, a way to get out a message.

"In a speech delivered three months before the first sanctuaries were created, Mr. Corbett made it clear that gaining popular support for opposition to Government policies as well as aiding individuals was a crucial part of the movement's approach.

"The movement, which remains decentralized and informal, involves hundreds of church groups from Mexico to Canada. California is the most active state, with approximately 100 churches-declared sanctuaries.

"In border areas like Tucson or south Texas, churches are involved in everything from counseling and legal defense to housing or transporting aliens, or matching Central Americans with churches in other parts of the country.

Services for Aliens

"In hotbeds such as the San Francisco Bay Area, home to an estimated 80,000 Salvadorans, most of whom have come since 1980, some 40 churches and related organizations provide housing, legal support, formal sanctuary and other services weekly to hundreds of Central Americans who usually stay in the community.

"And throughout the country in cities like Duluth, Minn., and Spokane, Wash., churches are sheltering refugees who have become active spokesmen within those communities for the movement.

"We don't have a central plan or a how-to booklet on how to be involved in sanctuary, Mr. Fife said. We began with a 3,000-year-old idea and now we've discovered we have a movement on our hands.

"Sanctuary cities include large ones like San Francisco and Seattle, university-dominated towns like Berkeley, Calif., and Ithaca, N.Y., and smaller communities like Duluth, and West Hollywood, Calif.

"Most of these cities have passed resolutions that include a statement of support for sanctuary activities and instructions to the police and emergency personnel that they need not routinely pass information to immigration officials or determine the citizenship or visa status of residents. Similar guidelines are in force in Chicago and New York, although they have not designated themselves sanctuary cities.

Main Routes of Involvement

"The church involvement, however, is far more concrete, and moves along two main routes.

"The first involves public sanctuary, in which some aliens publicly speak out on issues; the second involves quietly help to aliens who settle in communities.

"At any one time, not all sanctuary churches are housing Central Americans. But at one time or another most provide housing and other support to refugees who have decided to become visible spokesmen for the movement. Sanctuary organizers usually pick such public sanctuary members from among those they consider effective spokesmen about conditions in their countries, officials said. There have been about 1,500 Central Americans in public sanctuary since the movement started, movement organizers say.

"The Central Americans in public sanctuaries have been extraordinarily successful in winning support for the movement, church workers say.

"One reason Duluth became a sanctuary city was a reaction to Yadira Arevalo, who said she had fled El Salvador at the age of 15 after receiving death threats because of her teaching in her village church.

"People have become very committed to the issue because of her, said Mary Helgesen, who works with the Duluth Interfaith Sanctuary Committee. Her experience made a lot of people aware in a way nothing else could.

"At University Baptist Church in Seattle, 44 Salvadorans have lived in the church over the last few years. Two babies were born in the church, and one refugee married a member of the congregation.

Political Nature Discerned

"Government officials say public sanctuary has become an indication of the political nature of the movement. Immigration Commissioner Alan C. Nelson has called the movement a political protest movement involving lawlessness.

"But Mr. Corbett and Mr. Fife said only about one in 20 or 25 of those who are aided go into public sanctuary.

"Most of the sanctuary activity involves an informal aid network that begins in Mexico. Churches routinely relay information about where aid is available, and which churches in the United States provide which kind of services.

"Church workers say only rarely, in the case of individuals they feel are in danger, do they assist people passing through Mexico.

"Instead, most aliens make their own way to churches near border areas in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico or California where they are given shelter, counseling and other assistance.

Relay System Among Churches

"An alien with a specific destination are often given money or a bus ticket. Many are transported by a relay system in which they are driven from church to church by sanctuary volunteers.

"The support system goes far beyond the churches that have declared themselves sanctuaries, workers say. Members of many other churches and synagogues are among those who have helped transport aliens, the workers say.

"In Houston only the First Unitarian Church has declared itself a sanctuary. But Diane Trevino, who has been involved with the church's sanctuary program, said a broad coalition of religious groups in Houston have been involved in providing aid ranging from legal assistance to clothing, food and transportation for Central Americans.

"There's a word-of-mouth network that includes Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans and other groups, she said. The churches that have declared sanctuary are just a part of the whole movement.

Critical Church Voice

"However Federal officials point out that only a small percentage of churches are involved with the movement, and many churches are critical of it.

"One such critic, Harold Pultz, pastor of Houston's Waugh Drive Baptist Church, says, I don't think that any church has the right to go contrary to the laws that benefit our state and nation.

"Sanctuary officials say the dramatic growth in sanctuary activity will continue nonetheless.

"So far the growth has tended to be exponential, and I think as more people become aware of what sanctuary is, the growth will continue, Mr. Corbett said. We can outlast all the trials the Government throws at us.

References

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