God Chose the Despised: Latino/a Immigrants and the Sanctuary Movements

The concept of faith-based sanctuary—congregations providing hospitality and protection to those who have broken unjust laws—has its roots in the biblical passages mandating the creation of Cities of Refuge in ancient Israel. Since the early 1980s, sanctuary movements in the United States have provided refuge to asylum seekers and other immigrants facing potential deportation. The majority of those who have received sanctuary have fled the human rights crisis in Latin America. These movements have been pivotal in achieving regulatory changes in federal policy that saved thousands of lives in the 1980’s as well as saving immigrant families from separation through deportation on an ongoing basis. The popular narrative of the sanctuary movements has tended to focus on white citizens with privilege rescuing Latino/a victims. However, an in-depth examination shows that both Latino/a residents and Latino/a immigrants have played an essential and central role. Current faith responses to mass deportation efforts also involve increasingly important leadership by Latino/a residents and immigrants, largely without broader public awareness or understanding of their role. This paper focuses primarily on the contribution of migrants in the sanctuary movement, but with a particular emphasis on the majority of migrants who receive sanctuary—Latin Americans. It also notes the contribution of Latino/a U.S. residents. The reasons for including the role of Latino/a residents are twofold. First, the broader Latino/a church and community in the United States is roughly 30% immigrant; Latino/a residents are often intimately involved with the Latin American migrant community, and their contributions are intertwined. Secondly, Latino/a engagement in the sanctuary and similar movements, whether by residents or migrants, is also often unarticulated or marginalized. The reality that Latino/a resident and immigrant contributions to sanctuary movements are often invisible in the broader public narrative supports a theological distortion with negative consequences for mission and ministry. In many popular Christian education resources focused on immigration and immigrant ministry, the call to the church to witness to the love of God for the stranger is often framed as an act of hospitality While hospitality is a biblical value, a well-meaning emphasis on hospitality as the key biblical response to immigration obscures the actual and potential contributions of migrants to God’s broader mission in and through migration. This message lowers the likelihood of full collaboration between immigrant and non-immigrant leaders and churches. When the narrative is that the privileged are the savior, the leadership of the marginalized is discouraged and opportunities are missed. Conversely, 1 Corinthians 12:26–30 lays out a pattern in which God utilizes the contributions of the marginalized to inspire the church and world. When we see migrants’ engagement in risky advocacy in sanctuary movements, we see a faith that is radically dependent on God and marvelously courageous. The conversion of victims of injustice into God’s agents for transformation becomes a testimony to the power of the living God. When the world can see Christian migrants and citizens working together in power-sharing mutuality, Paul’s vision of the Body of Christ becomes visible. Applying these theological lenses to a fuller portrayal of shared leadership in the sanctuary movements can undo the damage caused by a distorted image of the sanctuary movements and can increase their positive impact. This paper utilizes a non-traditional and decolonial methodology in its inclusion of personal testimony by the author, a leader in North American sanctuary movements over the past forty-five years, in the broader context of an historical and theological analysis.