Sanctuary: On the Border Between Church and State
A limited podcast series about the politics of immigration, faith as radical hospitality, and the borders between church and state. In the spring of 1982, six faith communities in Arizona and California declared themselves places of safe harbor for hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans and Guatemalans that had been denied legal proceedings for political asylum in the U.S. Alleging that immigration officials had intentionally miscategorized Central Americans as ‘economic migrants’ in order to accelerate their deportation, humanitarian organizations, legal advocates, and religious bodies sought alternatives for aid within their faiths’ scriptural teachings and the juridical parameters offered by international and national human rights and refugee law. Known as the Sanctuary Movement, this decade-long interfaith mobilization spurred congressional action in support of Central American asylees by the 1990s and served as the model for a renewed movement for sanctuary in support of undocumented Americans in the twenty-first century. Every episode in the series draws upon extensive archival data from across the country in order to offer new interpretations of the Sanctuary Movement and introduce public audiences to the primary voices and sources within the faith communities and grassroots organizations at its core. To date, there is no resource that provides a reliable and relevant examination of the movement from the 1980s to the present. “Sanctuary: On the Border Between Church and State” proposes to do exactly this and thus chart new directions for one of the nation’s most confrontational religious movements. Produced by the Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement. Generous support provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was given by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College. Creators: Dr. Lloyd Barba (Faculty, Amherst College) and Dr. Sergio Gonzalez (Faculty, Marquette University) Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi Sound Engineer and Score: Scott Okamoto Production Assistance: Kari Onishi Distributed by Axis Mundi Media
Episodes
What if we told you that one of the biggest movements to protect migrants in the history of the United States was led by people of faith? What if there was a movement that has been cultivated within religious spaces, dedicated to a radical hospitality - to live out the Gospel by welcoming the stranger?
In this first episode, Dr. Lloyd Barba and Dr. Sergio M. González, historians of Latino migration and religion, introduce this move...
The memories of gunfire and death squads were never far from their minds. The unforgiving desert heat, however, was their primary concern. Who could Central American asylum seekers turn to when they arrived at the US-Mexico border, seeking refuge but finding none from the American government? In episode 2, Barba and González uncover the roots of the 1980s Movement. They begin with the pre-history of the Sanctuary Movement in Tucson...
Sanctuary-mania? Perhaps that’s a stretch, but by the mid-1980s, thousands of Americans had pledged their support for a faith-based movement to offer safe harbor to Central American asylum seekers, even if it meant they might have to go to jail. In episode three, Barba and González delve into the dramatically rapid growth of the sanctuary movement as it matured into a transnational phenomenon. They focus on two major geographic hub...
Spies in the pews? Criminal informants at Bible study? By the mid 1980s, sanctuary organizers were in the federal government’s crosshairs. The movement was growing, and its publicity-friendly protests were embarrassing the Reagan administration as it ramped up its military intervention in Central America. Facing pressure from a coalition of religious and political critics of the movement, the Department of Justice moved forward wit...
An immigrant…or a terrorist? In a post September 11th world, undocumented residents in the United States faced the specter of deportation after being labeled a threat to national security. With anti-immigrant sentiment rising and legislation threatening to criminalize immigrants pending at the national and state level, faith activists again turned to sanctuary practices in the summer of 2006 to protect immigrants, migrants, and ref...
An immigrant…or a terrorist? In a post September 11th world, undocumented residents in the United States faced the specter of deportation after being labeled a threat to national security. With anti-immigrant sentiment rising and legislation threatening to criminalize immigrants pending at the national and state level, faith activists again turned to sanctuary practices in the summer of 2006 to protect immigrants, migrants, and ref...
“Build the wall! Build the wall!” How about building sanctuaries instead? The 2016 election of Donald Trump shook the nation. But in the days following his unprecedented victory, sanctuary organizers got to work, not waiting until Trump stepped foot in the White House to develop the networks necessary to protect immigrant communities. In this episode, Barba and González track the immigration politics that played a central role in T...
“Build the wall! Build the wall!” How about building sanctuaries instead? The 2016 election of Donald Trump shook the nation. But in the days following his unprecedented victory, sanctuary organizers got to work, not waiting until Trump stepped foot in the White House to develop the networks necessary to protect immigrant communities. In this episode, Barba and González track the immigration politics that played a central role in T...
What does the future hold for sanctuary in this country? With a renewed anti-immigrant movement taking center stage in American politics, can sanctuary activists articulate a different vision for the country, one that demands that people of all faith and political persuasions ‘welcome the stranger’? In this episode, Barba and González investigate how and why sanctuary remains one of the most important ideas in American politics. Th...
What does the future hold for sanctuary in this country? With a renewed anti-immigrant movement taking center stage in American politics, can sanctuary activists articulate a different vision for the country, one that demands that people of all faith and political persuasions ‘welcome the stranger’? In this episode, Barba and González investigate how and why sanctuary remains one of the most important ideas in American politics. Th...
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