This Ground is Holy: Church Sanctuary and Central American Refugees

The author recounts the development in the United States of the 'sanctuary movement', a loose association of churches which accord refuge and legal and social services to central American refugees. United States immigration and refugee law is succinctly described, with due emphasis given to the 1951 Convention the principle of non-refoulement and the protection required by the 1949 Geneva Red Cross Conventions. The low refugee recognition rate for central Americans is identified as one reason giving rise to the need for extra-statutory refuge. The resulting confrontation between church and state is discribed, with reference to the prosecution and trials of various sanctuary workers. The author also assesses the legal implications for those helping 'illegal' refugees, who may be indicted for harbouring, concealing, shielding from detection or transportation; possible defences are suggested. Three chapters examine the history of sanctuary, as an ancient, biblical tradition; as a privileged refuge established in England in early years in reaction to the practice of blood revenge, and as reflected in elements of United States history, for example, in regard to the 'underground railroad' for fugitive slaves and in various responses to war resisters during the Vietnam period. The author concludes with the suggestion that the authority of the sanctuary novement today is moral, rather than legal; he notes the grassroots origins of the movement and the fact that the beneficiaries today are refugees rather than criminals.