| | |  Americas & Beyond | July 2008 
Sanctuary Church Movement Could Come to Tucson
 Associated Press
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 |  | Our policies are causing the closing of farms and the starvation of children in Mexico. We are very culpable... Migrant workers are responding to an international global system.
- Rev. Alexia Salvatierra |  | | | |
Tucson, Ariz. - There's a new movement becoming increasingly visible around the country: Churches sheltering illegal immigrants facing deportation.
A lead organizer who recently visited Tucson talked about how "the new sanctuary movement" is changing attitudes toward illegal immigrants. She said the network is in effect at houses of worship in 35 cities across the U.S., including Phoenix, although Tucson has no official role.
The network has its roots in the Sanctuary Movement, which began at Tucson's Southside Presbyterian Church during the 1980s. That movement illegally brought Central Americans into the United States. Supporters said the refugees faced persecution and death squads in their home nations, while critics said many were just seeking jobs.
The new movement's premise is the same as the old: that we are at a unique point in history when divine law and human law are in conflict, and that God's justice demands we stand with those who break unjust laws.
The new movement includes a network of volunteers, lawyers and houses of worship.
By bringing illegal immigrants into their fold, church leaders and worshippers are learning individual stories, said the Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, a Los Angeles-based minister with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and one of the new movement's founders and leaders.
She spoke at Southside Presbyterian recently, where the next pastor may consider taking a more formal role in the new movement.
Salvatierra maintains the group's workers do not believe they are doing anything illegal, and she is quick to cite immigration law that prohibits someone from helping an illegal immigrant, "in furtherance" of illegal entry into the United States.
"We are not hiding anyone under trap doors," Salvatierra said in an interview. "We aren't barring authorities from coming into the churches."
Yet so far U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - ICE - never has looked into the sanctuary churches, she said. And she stressed that federal officials are not seen as an enemy. They are only enforcing laws written by Congress, she said.
"We are hoping for reform of those laws," she said. "We believe Scripture says love is more powerful than hate, but love requires knowledge."
While the old Sanctuary Movement involved immigrants fleeing for political reasons, organizers say economic injustice is now fueling the flow of illegals into the United States.
The new movement's focus has been mainly on two areas: helping immediate family members of U.S. citizens who are at risk of deportation, and maintaining what it calls basic human rights of people to seek work and feed their families. The churches sometimes provide legal help to fight deportations.
Free trade left many Mexican farmworkers without jobs, said Salvatierra, who is also executive director of CLUE, or Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice.
"Our policies are causing the closing of farms and the starvation of children in Mexico," Salvatierra said. "We are very culpable. ... Migrant workers are responding to an international global system."
Tucson has no formal part in the new sanctuary movement for a variety of reasons, said the Rev. John Fife, the retired pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church and a leader in the old movement. In 1986, Fife was one of eight people - including a Catholic priest and a nun - convicted of federal immigrant smuggling for their involvement. None ended up serving time behind bars.
"Given the death toll in the desert, our focus has been on helping the people who need food, water and medical help," Fife said. "Also, we haven't had the ICE raids or repressive policies of police and sheriff's departments that have compelled other cities to be involved."
Faith-based volunteers have been helping illegal immigrants in Arizona's borderlands for several years now.
Southside Presbyterian Church offers another form of sanctuary today, providing illegal migrant workers a spot in its parking lot every morning where they can find employers who need day laborers.
The church is searching for a permanent pastor and it will be up to him or her to decide whether to take a more active role in the new sanctuary movement, interim pastor Larry Graham-Johnson said.
Fife said churches don't need to formally sign on to the new sanctuary movement to be a part of it. But there is some merit in being a public witness of resistance to the deportation of family members, he said.
The movement is not without critics who think members are breaking the law, and encouraging illegal immigration.
But Salvatierra countered: "If we were to turn people away seeking help, we wouldn't be churches." |
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