The Sanctuary movement was a religious and political campaign in the United States that began in the early 1980s to provide safe haven for Central American refugees fleeing civil conflict. The movement was a response to federal immigration policies that made obtaining asylum difficult for Central Americans.
At its peak, Sanctuary involved over 500 congregations in the United States, which, by declaring themselves official "sanctuaries," committed to providing shelter, protection, material goods and often legal advice to Central American refugees. Various denominations were involved, including Lutherans, United Church of Christ, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Jews, Unitarian Universalists, Quakers, and Mennonites.
Movement members acted both in defiance of federal laws (civil disobedience) and as citizens upholding laws they thought their government was violating (civil initiative). Several prominent Sanctuary figures were arrested and put on trial in the mid-1980s, including its two "founders", John Fife and James A. Corbett. The movement's historical roots derive from the right of sanctuary in medieval law and Jewish and Christian social teachings. Its contemporary roots derive from the American Civil War and its Underground Railroad as well as the sanctuaries offered to conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War.
History
Central American Conflict
Between 1980 and 1991, nearly a million Central Americans crossed the U.S. border seeking asylum. Most were fleeing political repression and violence caused by civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador; others had fled Nicaragua in the wake of the 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution. In El Salvador, the military had killed over 10,000 people by 1980, including Archbishop Óscar Romero and four U.S. churchwomen. In Guatemala, government-backed paramilitary groups killed 50,000, disappeared 100,000 and perpetrated 626 village massacres. Official policy under the Reagan administration greatly hindered Central Americans from obtaining asylum status. Congress forbade foreign aid to countries committing human rights abuses, and at same time the U.S. provided funds, training and arms to the Salvadoran and Guatemalan governments. Because admitting these governments' abuses would bar the U.S. from providing further aid, the Reagan administration instead argued that Central Americans were "economic migrants" fleeing poverty, not governmental repression. Consequently, Central Americans stood little chance in the U.S. immigration system, where asylum is granted based on proof of "well-founded fear" of persecution. Just before Reagan took office, Congress had passed the Refugee Act, which incorporated this international definition of political asylum into US law, which formerly granted refugee status only to those "fleeing Communism." But the Reagan administration retained discretion under the law and prevented the legal recognition of Central American claims. Visa approval rates for Guatemalans and Salvadorans hovered somewhere under 3% in 1984, as compared to a 60% approval rate for Iranians, 40% for Afghans fleeing Soviet invasion, 32% for Poles, 12% for Nicaraguans escaping the Sandinistas and 100% for Cubans. In 1983, one Guatemalan was granted asylum in the United States.
Many Central Americans who reached the United States were placed in detention centers and sent home. Many protested this move, claiming that they would face severe dangers upon their return. An American Civil Liberties Union study in 1985 reported that 130 deported Salvadorans were found disappeared, tortured, or killed.
Public sanctuary
The sanctuary movement formed as a reaction to these policies. It originated along the border with Mexico. The first church to declare itself a sanctuary for Central American refugees was Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona. The movement was sparked by the increased appearance of Central Americans at the US-Mexico border. In 1980, Fife, Corbett, Jim Dudley, and other Tucson residents began providing legal, financial and material aid to Central American refugees.