“La Migra No Profana el Santuario”

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter recounts the July 5, 1980, Sonoran Desert crossing that killed thirteen Salvadorans, follows survivors’ escape from U.S.-backed repression, and shows how Cold War politics and asylum adjudication conspire to deny protection. It locates that crisis within borderland economic shifts—the end of the Bracero Program, maquiladora expansion, and financial dislocation—and ties U.S. intervention in Central America to emerging “crimmigration” frameworks. The chapter chronicles how Tucson organizations, legal advocates, and liberation theology–inspired clergy (Manzo, the Tucson Ecumenical Council, Jim Corbett, John Fife, and others) organized clandestine rescue, shelter, and legal assistance while mounting public campaigns. It describes Southside Presbyterian’s March 24, 1982, sanctuary declaration—banners, public witness, and deliberate publicity—that reframed hospitality as civil disobedience and catalyzed a nationwide sanctuary movement. Finally, the chapter contends that Tucson’s sanctuary converts theological compassion into principled resistance, compels an urgent national reckoning over U.S. foreign and immigration policy, and models faith-based defense of persecuted peoples.</jats:p>