In the early 1980s, the outbreak of civil war across Central America forced unprecedented numbers of refugees to seek asylum in the United States, putting the recently passed 'Refugee Act' of 1980 to the test. There was just one catch: the Reagan Administration was providing funding to right-wing governments that most of these refugees were fleeing. As a result, Central American refugees making the dangerous journey to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands were being intercepted, denied asylum, and summarily deported.
As this crisis unfolded, a ragtag group of self-proclaimed 'goatherds errant', led by philosopher-turned-rancher Jim Corbett, took it upon themselves to enact U.S. immigration law at the grassroots level. In so doing, they sparked a national movement that continues to the present day, turning the concept of 'civil disobedience' upside-down.
This is the story of the Sanctuary movement – the 2nd part of a 4-part series.
From Future Ecologies, this is Goatwalker, Part Two: Sanctuary.
👉 We suggest you start with Part One of this series 👈
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As of August 2021, Jim Corbett’s "Goatwalking" has been re-issued in a new 2nd edition. You can purchase a hard copy or an e-book here
A 2nd edition of "Sanctuary for All Life" is also now available from Cascabel Books on Amazon or Barnes and Noble
You're listening to season three of
Introduction Voiceover:Future Ecologies.
Mendel Skulski:Hello, and welcome to part two of
Mendel Skulski:Goatwalker. In the last episode, we met Jim Corbett, a rancher,
Mendel Skulski:philosopher, and desert survivalist. If you haven't
Mendel Skulski:already heard it, I strongly suggest you give it a listen.
Mendel Skulski:Because understanding a bit about Jim will go a long way
Mendel Skulski:towards understanding the radical social movement he
Mendel Skulski:helped to spark.
Mendel Skulski:The story of that movement is the subject of today's episode.
Mendel Skulski:My co host, Adam will take it from here.
Adam Huggins:So what comes to mind when you hear the word
Adam Huggins:sanctuary?
Adam Huggins:For me, up until just the past few years, the word would have
Adam Huggins:conjured images of this scene of Quasimodo rescuing Esmerelda in
Adam Huggins:the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney version, of course.
Adam Huggins:Sanctuary has almost a medieval feeling as if it's a historical
Adam Huggins:artifact of a bygone time. But by around 2016, the word
Adam Huggins:sanctuary had assumed an entirely new meaning, at least
Adam Huggins:in the United States. At the time, the status of so called
Adam Huggins:sanctuary cities was getting a lot of press. driven by a former
Adam Huggins:reality TV show star turned politician.
Donald Trump:We will end the sanctuary cities that have
Donald Trump:resulted in so many needless deaths.
Adam Huggins:If this somehow flew under your radar, sanctuary
Adam Huggins:cities are basically jurisdictions that pledged to
Adam Huggins:offer municipal services and conducts law enforcement without
Adam Huggins:cooperating with immigration enforcement. Meaning,
Adam Huggins:theoretically, that if you were living in a sanctuary
Adam Huggins:jurisdiction in the United States without legal status, you
Adam Huggins:could still access housing or legal services and interact with
Adam Huggins:law enforcement without fear of deportation. By 2018, over 500
Adam Huggins:US jurisdictions had adopted some kind of sanctuary policy.
Adam Huggins:The Trump administration made several attempts to fulfill a
Adam Huggins:campaign promise to withhold federal funding from these self
Adam Huggins:identified sanctuary cities. But like most things the Trump
Adam Huggins:administration tried to do. Their attempts to cut this
Adam Huggins:federal funding got bogged down in the courts and eventually
Adam Huggins:blocked, in whole or in part, depending on the provision.
Adam Huggins:Underneath all of this noise, you might be wondering how this
Adam Huggins:idea of sanctuary made the jump from the Abbey's of medieval
Adam Huggins:Europe to the supercharged rhetoric of US immigration
Adam Huggins:policy sanctuary
Donald Trump:For these criminal illegal aliens.
Adam Huggins:Thankfully, for nearly every question like this
Adam Huggins:nowadays, someone has produced a podcast to answer it. And in
Adam Huggins:2017, producer Delaney Hall of the podcast 99%, Invisible,
Adam Huggins:released a two part series profiling something called the
Adam Huggins:Sanctuary Movement, and organizing network of churches
Adam Huggins:and civil society groups that formed in the 1980s to help
Adam Huggins:refugees from Central America evade US immigration
Adam Huggins:authorities. The series focused specifically on the church state
Adam Huggins:issues this movement raised, and on the eventual trial of its
Adam Huggins:leadership, chief among whom were John Fife, and Jim Corbett.
Adam Huggins:The 99% Invisible series puts the spotlight on John, which
Adam Huggins:makes sense, he remains a powerful voice in defense of
Adam Huggins:migrant rights. And of the two men, he's the one who's still
Adam Huggins:able to sit for an interview. But for me, this has the
Adam Huggins:unintentional effect of downplaying Jim's foundational
Adam Huggins:role in the movement. In fact, when Jim suddenly started
Adam Huggins:relating his experiences as part of the Sanctuary Movement, about
Adam Huggins:halfway through Goatwalking, his first book, I actually had to go
Adam Huggins:back and listen to the 99% Invisible story to see if he was
Adam Huggins:in there at all – because if he was, it hadn't really left an
Adam Huggins:impression. It turns out they had included him, but I could be
Adam Huggins:forgiven for forgetting, other than some details surrounding
Adam Huggins:the decision to declare sanctuary and the trial. This is
Adam Huggins:how producer Delaney Hall summed Jim up at the time.
Delaney Hall:Jim Corbett died in 2001. But back in the 80s, he
Delaney Hall:lived on the edge of Tucson, he raised goats, and he knew a lot
Delaney Hall:about philosophy. He was also a Quaker.
Adam Huggins:Now, don't get me wrong. She definitely had Jim
Adam Huggins:pegged. He did raise goats and was a Quaker and he knew a lot
Adam Huggins:about philosophy. The series is excellent. I highly recommend
Adam Huggins:listening to it and I think she made the right call and not
Adam Huggins:getting too deep into the weeds with Jim.
Adam Huggins:But on this podcast, getting into the weeds is what we're all
Adam Huggins:about. And in my estimation, Jim's philosophy and his goat
Adam Huggins:walking aren't incidental to the story of the Sanctuary Movement.
Adam Huggins:They're essential, and they prefigure everything that
Adam Huggins:follows. All of his life, Jim had been tilting at windmills,
Adam Huggins:seeking opportunities to live out his philosophy of errantry
Adam Huggins:and nonviolence in practice. And in the early 1980s, Jim finally
Adam Huggins:picked a windmill that turned out to be a lightning rod. All
Adam Huggins:it took was a chance encounter. From Future Ecologies, this is
Goatwalker, part two:Sanctuary.
Goatwalker, part two:The origin story of the Sanctuary Movement in the United
Goatwalker, part two:States might begin with a small goat milking cooperative that
Goatwalker, part two:Jim Corbett had brought together in the early 1980s. Jim and his
Goatwalker, part two:wife, Pat, we're living in Tucson, Arizona, and Ann
Goatwalker, part two:Russell, the Quaker student who went on a goatwalk with Jim in
Goatwalker, part two:the 1970s happened to be attending the University of
Goatwalker, part two:Arizona at the time.
Ann Russell:I started my master's degree, and they were
Ann Russell:living close by. And so I started to go over because I
Ann Russell:missed the goats and I missed Jim, and I would go over and
Ann Russell:milk in the morning, and he would make oatmeal. And the
Ann Russell:three of us would have breakfast,
Adam Huggins:Ann was working in the department of plant
Adam Huggins:pathology when she met Tom Orum. And it didn't take long for her
Adam Huggins:to introduce Tom to Jim and the goats.
Ann Russell:And so he started coming over and the group
Ann Russell:started getting bigger and then it was a goat co-op.
Adam Huggins:The members of the goat co-op jokingly referred to
Adam Huggins:themselves as Los Cabreros Andantes.
Ann Russell:Jim read Don Quixote, he saw himself as Don
Ann Russell:Quixote, and in Spanish, a knight errant, which was what
Ann Russell:Don Quixote was – in Spanish, that's Caballeros Andante. So we
Ann Russell:were Cabreros Andantes – Cabrero being goat herd, and Caballero
Ann Russell:being gentlemen,
Adam Huggins:These self-proclaimed "goat herders
Adam Huggins:errant" would meet regularly to schedule milking slots, and the
Adam Huggins:chance encounter I've alluded to occurred on the evening of May
Adam Huggins:4, 1981. At one of those meetings, Tom Orum was there and
Adam Huggins:he remembers the night well,
Tom Orum:We were having a goat group meeting – Los Cabreros
Tom Orum:Andantes. We were passing the signup sheet around, and this
Tom Orum:guy who was connected with our Baja project,
Adam Huggins:a Quaker named James Dudley.
Tom Orum:He was driving a van up from Sonora, and picked up a
Tom Orum:Salvadoran guy and came into goat group meeting and described
Tom Orum:what had happened.
Adam Huggins:Dudley had been driving from the border town of
Adam Huggins:Nogales north to Tucson, and had picked up a hitchhiker from the
Adam Huggins:small Central American country of El Salvador. Almost
Adam Huggins:immediately, they reached a border checkpoint, and border
Adam Huggins:patrol agents seized the Salvadoran, who had no papers
Border Patrol Agent:[unitelligible] a high area for us, that's why
Border Patrol Agent:we're pulling almost everybody over.
Adam Huggins:And that was that. Dudley kept driving, stopped by
Adam Huggins:the meeting, and told the story to the group. At the time, it
Adam Huggins:seemed like it could have been an isolated incident. But Jim
Adam Huggins:took it seriously.
Tom Orum:Well, it was like serious, but it didn't get real
Tom Orum:serious until Jim woke up the next morning and decided to go
Tom Orum:down and find the guy down in Nogales.
Adam Huggins:Jim was determined to speak with the Salvadoran,
Adam Huggins:who was being held in custody by the I N S, or the Immigration
Adam Huggins:and Naturalization Service. This was before it was subsumed
Adam Huggins:within the Department of Homeland Security, post 9/11. To
Adam Huggins:figure out where the man was, Jim started making cold calls.
Adam Huggins:And he quickly realized that nobody in the INS or Border
Adam Huggins:Patrol was going to give him any information. He was able to
Adam Huggins:reach a local aid organization, and he was given a form called a
Adam Huggins:G 28 that the Salvadoran could fill out in order to seek legal
Adam Huggins:assistance. But first, he'd actually have to find the man.
Adam Huggins:Then, an idea came to him. By coincidence, Jim shared both
Adam Huggins:first and last names with a former mayor of the city of
Adam Huggins:Tucson. And so he called the IRS back and with his best, most
Adam Huggins:commanding voice, he declared himself to be "Jim Corbett", and
Adam Huggins:demanded information on the location of the Salvadoran. And
Adam Huggins:he got it. They'd taken the man to the Santa Cruz County Jail in
Adam Huggins:Nogales on the border to await deportation. Jim went down there
Adam Huggins:that very afternoon. When he arrived at the jail and
Adam Huggins:requested to see the Salvadoran, they set him up with another
Adam Huggins:prisoner who wasn't the man in question. And once he realized
Adam Huggins:this, they sat him in the waiting room, and they made him
Adam Huggins:wait. Finally, when Jim became frustrated and demanded at last
Adam Huggins:to see the man he'd come to see, the guard said that he was gone.
Adam Huggins:While they'd kept him waiting, they'd taken the Salvadoran and
Adam Huggins:shipped him off to El Centro prison in California.
Unknown:And that just really hooked Jim. If they hadn't
Unknown:tricked him and just let him talk to the guy, who knows? But
Unknown:being tricked was – really set the tone for oh my gosh, this is
Unknown:not right.
Ann Russell:That's how it started with him was he met a
Ann Russell:guy who was taken away, and he had to find out what happened to
Ann Russell:him. So it was like one person, he met a person and then had to
Ann Russell:look for him. And then that's the thing about Jim, everything
Ann Russell:has a logical next step. And you follow it even though it may not
Ann Russell:be comfortable, and it may take you places that people tell you
Ann Russell:you can't go.
Adam Huggins:At this point, I think it's important to note
Adam Huggins:that in the 1970s, the border just wasn't as militarized as it
Adam Huggins:is today. Movement was much more fluid between Mexico and the
Adam Huggins:United States, and a certain amount of permeability was seen
Adam Huggins:as socially and economically advantageous for border
Adam Huggins:communities. But in 1980, 2 things happened that set the
Adam Huggins:stage for Jim's chance encounter. The first was the
Adam Huggins:outbreak of civil war across Central America. In 1979, the
Adam Huggins:Sandinistas, a revolutionary leftist Socialist Party,
Adam Huggins:overthrew the government of Nicaragua.
News Announcer:Despite everything the government forces
News Announcer:have thrown at them, their morale is high. And when the
News Announcer:guns stopped firing for a moment, their chant is a
News Announcer:victory.
Sandinistas:[Chanting]
Adam Huggins:military leaders in El Salvador, fearing similar
Adam Huggins:movements in their own country, instigated a coup d'etat a
Adam Huggins:couple of months later,
:This kind of butchery, which is generally the
:activity of those on the right wing in this country, is the
:sort of thing which can be found on any roadside throughout El
:Salvador at this time.
Adam Huggins:Meanwhile, a civil war that had been ongoing since
Adam Huggins:the 1960s in Guatemala was flaring up. And the military
Adam Huggins:government in Honduras was waging its own dirty war against
Adam Huggins:leftist groups. The Reagan administration in the United
Adam Huggins:States openly supported these right wing military governments
Adam Huggins:– viewing them as friendly to US foreign policy interests, and as
Adam Huggins:a bulwark against so-called communism in the region.
:Below in the yard of the police station,
:heavily armed police returned from making their rounds. There
:are countless instances of deaths and disappearances, in
:which they have been found to have played a role. Yet, they
:are armed with NATO weaponry, which the United States is
:continuing to supply.
Adam Huggins:We now know that the CIA was covertly funding and
Adam Huggins:arming death squads, and other right wing paramilitary groups
Adam Huggins:throughout Central America, the most infamous of which were
Adam Huggins:Battalion 316 in Honduras and the Contras in Nicaragua, the
Adam Huggins:namesake of the eventual Iran-Contra scandal. This
Adam Huggins:history is complex and multifaceted. But the end result
Adam Huggins:was the violent displacement of millions of Central Americans in
Adam Huggins:the 1980s. Due to civil war, US backed death squads, and
Adam Huggins:government campaigns of terror aimed at political dissidents
Adam Huggins:and indigenous peoples. And so, in 1981, refugees from Central
Adam Huggins:America started arriving in the US-Mexico Borderlands: seeking
Adam Huggins:asylum and foreshadowing the 10s and 100s of thousands to come.
Adam Huggins:The second thing that happened was the passage in 1980 of the
Adam Huggins:Refugee Act in the United States. This law, shepherded by
Adam Huggins:outgoing President Jimmy Carter, brought US immigration law into
Adam Huggins:alignment with international human rights standards: more
Adam Huggins:than doubling the number of refugees that the United States
Adam Huggins:would admit each year, and establishing a well-founded fear
Adam Huggins:of persecution as the standard by which to judge asylum
Adam Huggins:applicants. This legislation expanded eligibility for many
Adam Huggins:refugees and asylum seekers, but unfortunately, was not immune
Adam Huggins:from the politics of the day.
Adam Huggins:Under the newly-elected Reagan Administration, refugees from
Adam Huggins:countries that the US considered adversaries, such as Cuba and
Adam Huggins:Iran, were accepted and naturalized in large numbers
Adam Huggins:thanks to the Refugee Act. On the other hand, the Reagan
Adam Huggins:Administration's overt support for the right wing governments
Adam Huggins:of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, meant that It refused
Adam Huggins:to acknowledge the atrocities committed by those governments
Adam Huggins:against their own citizens.
Adam Huggins:By extension, throughout the 1980s, nearly all asylum seekers
Adam Huggins:from Central America were considered by the Reagan era ins
Adam Huggins:to be, quote unquote, economic migrants, regardless of their
Adam Huggins:well-founded fear of persecution. In 1981, a refugee
Adam Huggins:from Cuba would find the door wide open under Reagan's INS.
Adam Huggins:But the Salvadoran that Jim was trying to locate, didn't have a
Adam Huggins:chance in hell.
Adam Huggins:Jim would drive all the way to El Centro present in California
Adam Huggins:to try to help the Salvadoran refugee to no avail. That's a
Adam Huggins:story in and of itself. But while Jim is out there, I'm
Adam Huggins:going to take a moment to give John Fife, the pastor I spoke to
Adam Huggins:in the last episode, a proper introduction. Because if Jim was
Adam Huggins:the spark that ignited the Sanctuary Movement, John would
Adam Huggins:provide the hearth that sustained it.
John Fife:My name is John Fife. I grew up in the mountains of
John Fife:southwestern Pennsylvania, near West Virginia, and small town,
John Fife:rural farm life was my heritage.
Adam Huggins:John wanted to be a pastor. So he enrolled in
Adam Huggins:seminary, and when he started looking for internships, he got
Adam Huggins:a call from a man from Tucson, Arizona.
John Fife:And he says "we have an internship out here and got
John Fife:your name and wondered if you'd be interested in". I said "well,
John Fife:tell me a little bit about that." And he did the job
John Fife:description and a little bit about the desert in the border.
John Fife:And, and he said "Do you have any questions?" And I said,
John Fife:"Yeah, I got to what's an Indian? And what's a
John Fife:reservation?" And he went, "Oh," and I said "well you need to
John Fife:know, I'm from Western Pennsylvania. I don't know
John Fife:anything about the Southwest. I've never been in the
John Fife:southwest. I don't know anything about Native Americans." And
John Fife:there's a kind of long silence. And he says "well, church has
John Fife:done a lot of damage to Native Americans over the years, you
John Fife:probably can't do too much more in three months once you come
John Fife:out." And so I said "I'd love to, if that's if we understand
John Fife:each other."
Adam Huggins:John left the mountains of southwestern
Adam Huggins:Pennsylvania for the Borderlands of southwestern Arizona, and
Adam Huggins:never looked back.
John Fife:The Sonoran Desert was a wonder and the border and
John Fife:the multicultural context of Native Americans and Latinos and
John Fife:African Americans and gringos all in here in the border
John Fife:region. All of the advantages of that kind of multicultural
John Fife:context and multi ecological context from the tops of the
John Fife:mountains to the Sonoran Desert. And so I just couldn't believe
John Fife:there was a place like this and my wife and I moved out here
John Fife:after I finished graduate school and stayed since 1969. Yeah, I
John Fife:love it.
Adam Huggins:Before long, john would become the pastor for
Adam Huggins:Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson.
John Fife:This church is located in the oldest and
John Fife:poorest barrio in Tucson, and it had a history of beginning as a
John Fife:Native American congregation in the Native American village
John Fife:outside the south of the city of Tucson because Native Americans
John Fife:weren't allowed to live in the city of Tucson, and then is the
John Fife:city grew around here and it became a Mexican American and
John Fife:Native American barrio, the congregation became
John Fife:multicultural and bilingual or trilingual.
Adam Huggins:By the time that John arrived, a once thriving
Adam Huggins:congregation was now struggling to sustain itself and was at
Adam Huggins:threat of being closed by the Presbyteriat. Under John's
Adam Huggins:leadership, though, the church grew strong again, supported by
Adam Huggins:this multi ethnic, multi lingual community. And then came 1988.
Archbishop Oscar Romero:[Archival speech in Spanish]
Adam Huggins:In March of 1980, the Archbishop Oscar Romero was
Adam Huggins:assassinated in El Salvador by a US-backed death squad for
Adam Huggins:speaking out against military violence.
Archbishop Oscar Romero:[Spanish continues, followed by applause]
Adam Huggins:His death was the most high profile in a series of
Adam Huggins:attacks against Christian priests and nuns across Central
Adam Huggins:America. And the event galvanized John Fife and his
Adam Huggins:congregation at Southside
John Fife:And so we started weekly prayer vigils in front of
John Fife:the Federal Building, and guess who showed up – Jim Corbett – at
John Fife:some point at those weekly prayer vigils saying "I just had
John Fife:an experience with a refugee young man from El Salvador that
John Fife:I tried to help and was unable to because the Border Patrol
John Fife:moved him to a detention center in California, and I wasn't able
John Fife:to prevent his deportation like I'd hoped to." So Jim was
John Fife:essential right from that point on. He actually talked to the
John Fife:head of the Immigration Service here in Tucson, and reached an
John Fife:agreement with him that if we would take in voluntarily
John Fife:Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees who wanted to apply for
John Fife:political asylum, he would not detain them, he released them to
John Fife:our custody.
Adam Huggins:At first, Jim worked with a small women led
Adam Huggins:organization called Manzo Area Council in Tucson, to try to
Adam Huggins:render aid to refugees through legal channels. But because of
Adam Huggins:his experiences with how law enforcement treated migrants,
Adam Huggins:Jim was cautious.
Jim Corbett:So I was apprehensive because I didn't
Jim Corbett:trust him. I, you know, I'd been to El Centro and I knew how they
Jim Corbett:operated. But it seemed to us the best option for most of the
Jim Corbett:refugees to file for asylum, as long as they were reasonably
Jim Corbett:sure of getting two or three years, in terms of appeals.
Miriam Davidson:It was more of the time – buying time than the
Miriam Davidson:idea that they would get it?
Jim Corbett:Yeah we knew they wouldn't get and that had
Jim Corbett:already been established that the Reagan administration was
Jim Corbett:not going to give Salvadorans asylum. But the thing was that
Jim Corbett:this would allow people to be out in the open, move around at
Jim Corbett:will and not risk being simply grabbed and deported anymore. At
Jim Corbett:least not risk it in the same way others would.
Adam Huggins:Jim negotiated an arrangement with an officer at
Adam Huggins:the local Immigration Service, he would bring in refugees and
Adam Huggins:the proper paperwork. And they would begin processing the
Adam Huggins:asylum claim and let the refugees go on conditional
Adam Huggins:status.
Jim Corbett:Sit down and wait your turn. And then eventually
Jim Corbett:they call you up and you present the person and the I 589. And
Jim Corbett:they look through it and give you a little receipt.
Adam Huggins:And then one day, when Jim brought in several men
Adam Huggins:seeking refugee status, this arrangement seemed to fall
Adam Huggins:apart. After making Jim wait longer than usual, that same
Adam Huggins:immigration officer came out and said
Jim Corbett:"We're gonna go downstairs to investigations and
Jim Corbett:–
Miriam Davidson:Did he tell you right there that he was going to
Miriam Davidson:arrest them or...
Jim Corbett:He said we're gonna make an inquiry. At any rate, it
Jim Corbett:was clear that things were going sour.
Adam Huggins:They took the men that Jim had brought with him
Adam Huggins:into custody. All parties agree upon that point. The reasons for
Adam Huggins:this are disputed, though, according to the INS, it was
Adam Huggins:because the men had criminal records. However, Jim recalls
Adam Huggins:the decision being wholly unjustified.
Jim Corbett:At no point did he give that as a reason for having
Jim Corbett:done this.
Adam Huggins:In Jim's mind, the US government had already
Adam Huggins:declared war on Central American refugees. But this, this was the
Adam Huggins:moment when it also cut off any legal pathway for US citizens to
Adam Huggins:try to help them
Jim Corbett:And made it fairly clear that this was a position
Jim Corbett:that we could expect in the future as well for the people we
Jim Corbett:brought in.
John Fife:And Jim came to me at that point, and said, "John, I
John Fife:don't think we have any choice under the circumstances except
John Fife:to start smuggling refugees safely across the border. So
John Fife:they're not caught by Border Patrol or immigration
John Fife:authorities." And I basically said, "really, how do you figure
John Fife:that Jim?" And his rationale was compelling. He said, "look at
John Fife:two moments in history." He said, "The first is the
John Fife:abolition movement, when some people of faith helped runaway
John Fife:slaves cross state lines safely, without being captured, and then
John Fife:formed an underground railroad to move them to safer and safer
John Fife:places, so they wouldn't be captured under The Fugitive
John Fife:Slave Act and return to slavery." And he said, "as we
John Fife:read history, those folks got it right. They were faithful."
John Fife:And then he pointed to almost the complete failure of the
John Fife:church in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. To protect Jewish
John Fife:refugees who were fleeing the Holocaust, crossing national
John Fife:borders, without documents – being captured as illegal
John Fife:aliens, and returned to the tender mercies of the Holocaust.
John Fife:And he said to me, "that's one of the most tragic failures of
John Fife:faith of the church in history." And I said, "Well, yeah, that's
John Fife:how I read history." And his response. He looked me right in
John Fife:the eye and said, "I don't think we can allow that to happen on
John Fife:our border in our time". And after some sleepless nights, I
John Fife:went back to him and said, "Yeah, you're right. I, I cannot
John Fife:claim to be a person of faith, or even a pastor of a faith
John Fife:community. If I tell you no, I, of course, you're right. We have
John Fife:to do this."
Adam Huggins:Beginning in the summer of 1981, Jim Corbett
Adam Huggins:undertook the first of what would become hundreds of risky
Adam Huggins:trips to the border to help Central American refugees safely
Adam Huggins:across and up to Tucson. He didn't do it alone. He had the
Adam Huggins:help of Los Cabreros Andantes. As he writes in Goatwalking.
Goatwalking:Few groups could have been better prepared,
Goatwalking:bonded together and predisposed than the Cabreros Andantes to
Goatwalking:help the refugees get through. Errantry shifted from goat
Goatwalking:herding to refugee aid.
Adam Huggins:I really want to stop and emphasize this point
Adam Huggins:for a moment. In my own reading of history, people who cultivate
Adam Huggins:intimate relationships with the more-than-human world often
Adam Huggins:become leaders, and resources in times of disaster, of
Adam Huggins:deprivation, and of demagoguery. In this respect, I would argue
Adam Huggins:that you could draw a straight line from St. Francis of Assisi
Adam Huggins:to Henry David Thoreau, and right on to Jim Corbett. Few
Adam Huggins:people would have made the decision that Jim and John made,
Adam Huggins:and fewer still would have actually been able to pull it
Adam Huggins:off. Jim's years of roaming in the desert with his goats turned
Adam Huggins:out to be a singular contribution.
John Fife:Oh, it meant everything. I mean, what does
John Fife:some gringo from Western Pennsylvania know about
John Fife:smuggling refugees across the border? It was all Jim's
John Fife:conception and Jim's practice. And then Jim's training of other
John Fife:volunteers in that practice. That was the foundation of
John Fife:everything we did.
Adam Huggins:By this time, Jim and his inner circle had already
Adam Huggins:formed relationships with a Catholic priest, Father Quinones
Adam Huggins:at the Sanctuary of Guadalupe church on the other side of the
Adam Huggins:border in Nogales, Father Quinones would do weekly visits
Adam Huggins:to the local Mexican prison, where migrants were held
Adam Huggins:awaiting deportation. And Jim would join him, new groups of
Adam Huggins:migrants would arrive and depart every week. And the conditions
Adam Huggins:in the jail were not good.
Jim Corbett:Yeah, it was just a concrete holding tank with
Jim Corbett:nothing to sleep on. And normally, when we started
Jim Corbett:working on it at a later point, no, no blankets or anything they
Jim Corbett:just slept on the concrete floor. It was open air, so it
Jim Corbett:got very, very cold in the winter.
Adam Huggins:Once there, he do refugee support work, helping
Adam Huggins:supply blankets and mattresses and sanitary products, as well
Adam Huggins:as assisting the refugees and connecting with family members.
Adam Huggins:He'd also use these visits as an opportunity to learn about how
Adam Huggins:they traveled from their homes to the border, and how they
Adam Huggins:crossed – and how they got caught. This research ended up
Adam Huggins:being really crucial, because in the summer of 1981, the
Adam Huggins:floodgates opened, Central American refugees began arriving
Adam Huggins:in the Borderlands in unprecedented numbers.
John Fife:And so with a group of about, I don't know, 20 or So
John Fife:folks, in cooperation with a Catholic priest in Nogales,
John Fife:Sonora, who had been running a shelter for Central American
John Fife:refugees to protect them there in Mexico. He would refer
John Fife:families to us, we would cross them bring them to Tucson,
Adam Huggins:Jim and other volunteers were making daily
Adam Huggins:trips to Nogales to help them across.
Jim Corbett:It was just almost every day people were just
Jim Corbett:coming through so fast.
Adam Huggins:They'd do this all sorts of ways. For example, Jim
Adam Huggins:learned of a hole in the border fence on the east side of
Adam Huggins:Nogales – and when it would be watched.
Jim Corbett:And there were certain times when the hole was
Jim Corbett:really just left unattended. So if you knew the times when they
Jim Corbett:weren't going to bother, you'd just always make it and then in
Jim Corbett:'81, you know just day after day after day people were going
Jim Corbett:through...
Adam Huggins:And Jim would find those people and transport them
Adam Huggins:safely past the Border Patrol to Tucson. Throughout summer in
Adam Huggins:fall of 1981, Pat Corbett remembers him being in constant
Adam Huggins:motion.
Pat Corbett:Oh gosh there for a while. He'd be just, you know,
Pat Corbett:three or four trips a day to Mexico. Really, I don't know how
Pat Corbett:he did it,
Adam Huggins:We'll probably never know entirely. But in
Adam Huggins:those early days, he did it mostly just by picking folks up
Adam Huggins:and driving them north in his truck.
Pat Corbett:At that time the Border Patrol wasn't so you
Pat Corbett:know, on the lookout for that kind of thing. So it wasn't as
Pat Corbett:hard as later became.
Adam Huggins:As sanctuary activities became more public
Adam Huggins:and the situation worsened in Central America, the border
Adam Huggins:tightened up. Civilized ports of entry were fortified, forcing
Adam Huggins:migrants to attempt to cross the border in extremely dangerous,
Adam Huggins:sparsely inhabited stretches of desert, where untold numbers
Adam Huggins:would die over the coming decades.
Adam Huggins:This policy of prevention through deterrence, and its
Adam Huggins:deadly results are well documented today. But in the
Adam Huggins:early 1980s, large groups of migrants dying in shocking
Adam Huggins:numbers in the desert was still a novel phenomenon. In response
Adam Huggins:to this fortification, Jim used his incredible knowledge of the
Adam Huggins:Sonoran Desert ecology and geography to help groups of
Adam Huggins:migrants cross by foot. Those lucky enough to cross with Jim,
Adam Huggins:were in good hands.
John Fife:I've spent days and up to a week with him in the
John Fife:desert. It wasn't goatwalking, it was smuggling refugees. So I
John Fife:learned a lot from him in those brief periods, about desert
John Fife:survival and about what he was thinking, and about what he was
John Fife:teaching.
Adam Huggins:Jim's knowledge would carry the group's safely
Adam Huggins:across this harsh terrain. Of course, it wasn't easy.
Pat Corbett:I think the refugees, you know they were
Pat Corbett:pretty accustomed to a tough life. And even so I think they
Pat Corbett:found Jim's idea of how to pack across the desert in the
Pat Corbett:mountains pretty tough.
Adam Huggins:Eventually, the iconic quality of these desert
Adam Huggins:crossings would make front page news. Journalists from major
Adam Huggins:publications like the Chicago Tribune, would follow Jim into
Adam Huggins:the desert to get the full story.
Ann Russell:But that didn't stop them from taking refugees
Ann Russell:from the border up into the Chiricahua mountains wearing his
Ann Russell:sandals. On one time there was a TV crew from LA out with him and
Ann Russell:they couldn't hack it. And there's Jim with his sandals and
Ann Russell:his arthritic toes, just walking through the mountains.
Adam Huggins:But that was just getting folks safely across the
Adam Huggins:border. Then there was the question of what to do with
Adam Huggins:them. At first, Jim would bring the refugees to his and Pat's
Adam Huggins:apartment in Tucson, which quickly filled up. Here's a
Adam Huggins:recording of a talk that Pat gave to a group of Quakers
Adam Huggins:reflecting back on that time,
Pat Corbett:A reporter in Washington DC once asked me what
Pat Corbett:my role was in the Sanctuary Movement, which kind of
Pat Corbett:befuddled me and it still does. But I thought a while and I
Pat Corbett:said, Well, I guess I was the plumber. The reporter looked
Pat Corbett:quite stunned by this. And after a while, I realized that she
Pat Corbett:thought I meant a watergate type of plumber, when I was speaking
Pat Corbett:quite literally of the problems involved in having sometimes 20
Pat Corbett:or more people using a septic system meant for two.
Adam Huggins:While Pat was dealing with the immediate
Adam Huggins:problems presented by hosting too many people under one roof,
Adam Huggins:Jim and the other Cabreros Andantes reached out through
Adam Huggins:their networks to find temporary accommodation for these
Adam Huggins:refugees. One of the people who answered that call was Gary Paul
Adam Huggins:Nabhan
Gary Paul Nabhan:My first year in Tucson – after living on
Gary Paul Nabhan:ranches and national parks in southern Arizona – I ended up in
Gary Paul Nabhan:a community garden group with Jim and his wife and many of
Gary Paul Nabhan:their dear friends – at least half of them literally friends,
Gary Paul Nabhan:Quakers. And we not only shared garden space, but we helped with
Gary Paul Nabhan:goat milking. Because Jim was still doing his goatwalks.
Gary Paul Nabhan:But he was really the first philosopher I knew who had such
Gary Paul Nabhan:a deep grounding in western and eastern traditions, that he took
Gary Paul Nabhan:principles from perennial traditions and adapted them to
Gary Paul Nabhan:social justice here in the Borderlands. And he did it in a
Gary Paul Nabhan:very non egotistical way. He didn't announce things he'd say
Gary Paul Nabhan:something like, "Gary, I have some friends that I'd like you
Gary Paul Nabhan:to meet that are just passing through town and they share a
Gary Paul Nabhan:lot of your same interests. Could you meet us at the Denny's
Gary Paul Nabhan:a few blocks away from your house?" And I'd get over there
Gary Paul Nabhan:and there'd be a Guatemalan family that needed help filling
Gary Paul Nabhan:out the refugee papers in one state for a month with us and
Gary Paul Nabhan:finally got reunited with their extended family in California.
Adam Huggins:Like many people who befriended Jim and
Adam Huggins:participated in sanctuary, the experience was life changing for
Adam Huggins:Gary.
Gary Paul Nabhan:And I realized that well, at that age of my
Gary Paul Nabhan:20s, I thought it was just a good thing to do. I had no sense
Gary Paul Nabhan:of how much suffering they had gone through, and how even
Gary Paul Nabhan:coming to the United States ended up not to be a solace or a
Gary Paul Nabhan:sanctuary immediately, but a struggle to feel legal, and to
Gary Paul Nabhan:feel like they had their dignity and overcome the post traumatic
Gary Paul Nabhan:stress of not just what took them from their homeland, but
Gary Paul Nabhan:all the trials and tribulations they faced in Mexico. And Jim
Gary Paul Nabhan:somehow knew that from his own life and sort of guided those of
Gary Paul Nabhan:us who are facing it, for the first time – that it's not a cup
Gary Paul Nabhan:of tea, hosting refugees. They're going through deeply
Gary Paul Nabhan:troubling issues that you need to accompany them with. And I
Gary Paul Nabhan:thought it was giving them a room, and I realized afterwards
Gary Paul Nabhan:that was giving them my heart and my attention and my
Gary Paul Nabhan:listening.
Adam Huggins:We'll return to Gary later in this series. But
Adam Huggins:for now, I'll just say that Gary's experience is typical of
Adam Huggins:those who became drawn to sanctuary work by Jim helping
Adam Huggins:people felt good, but the traumas that those people
Adam Huggins:carried were with them all the time.
Pat Corbett:Oh, the stories you would hear from them were
Pat Corbett:appalling.
Adam Huggins:These were people who in many cases had directly
Adam Huggins:experienced unimaginable violence against their person or
Adam Huggins:their close family members, and who felt that remaining in their
Adam Huggins:homes was more dangerous than the perilous journey northward.
Adam Huggins:Traversing Mexico was and is extremely dangerous for Central
Adam Huggins:American migrants. The US had put increasing pressure on
Adam Huggins:Mexican authorities to prevent Central Americans from even
Adam Huggins:reaching the US border. And this criminalization of migration,
Adam Huggins:subjected migrants to organized crime, police corruption, and
Adam Huggins:worse things. It was especially dangerous for female refugees.
Jim Corbett:So a lot of it really had to do with the whole
Jim Corbett:problem connected with women in that it if they are young and
Jim Corbett:saleable, they're indefinitely exploitable, and as refugees are
Jim Corbett:completely vulnerable,
Adam Huggins:For these female refugees, they risked not only
Adam Huggins:being killed, but also being exploited and trafficked for
Adam Huggins:sex. If they were deported back to Central America, or captured
Adam Huggins:by police or criminals in Mexico, they were in an
Adam Huggins:incredibly difficult position. So while there were folks like
Adam Huggins:Gary, who took refugees in, in those early days, most of the
Adam Huggins:Central Americans still ended up living with Jim and Pat in their
Adam Huggins:tiny apartment,
Jim Corbett:It was just a really a very difficult thing to
Jim Corbett:cope with all the folks and at the same time. Someone was
Jim Corbett:arriving new on virtually every day. And most of my energy was
Jim Corbett:going into getting them through without there being caught,
Jim Corbett:which meant I brought them into Tucson and then hope someone
Jim Corbett:would do something. And frequently Pat and I were doing
Jim Corbett:it at the apartment that is in terms of the people crowded in
Jim Corbett:there. And if I was going to be responsible, in some sense for
Jim Corbett:trying to cope, it was easier to cope with 20 people crammed into
Jim Corbett:the apartment where I lived and to try to run around town,
Jim Corbett:figuring out what to do with folks somewhere else. So it
Jim Corbett:simply reached a point of extreme overload.
Adam Huggins:With their apartment full, and at their
Adam Huggins:wit's end, it was clear for Pat and Jim that something needed to
Adam Huggins:change. In hindsight, what happened next was a stroke of
Adam Huggins:sheer brilliance. Jim told it like this.
Jim Corbett:Oh, yeah, there's been a period of several weeks
Jim Corbett:where Pat had been talking about the need to find some church or
Jim Corbett:someone who could take care of the refugees. And that was
Jim Corbett:especially urgent because I was planning to go down to Chiapas
Jim Corbett:and Guatemala. And it became clear that it just wouldn't be
Jim Corbett:good to leave Pat alone, trying to tend to the apartment down
Jim Corbett:full of refugees.
Adam Huggins:Pat tells it like this.
Pat Corbett:At one point, I finally was saying to Jim, that
Pat Corbett:you should go talk to some of these church people who were
Pat Corbett:also concerned about the refugees. Because they have
Pat Corbett:these churches with lots of room, lots more room than we
Pat Corbett:had, and better plumbing. And so poor John five, Jim picked on
Pat Corbett:him. And he went to his congregation and they had a
Pat Corbett:congregation discussion about it and decided that they should
Pat Corbett:start housing refugees, so I was able to let them have my 21 or
Pat Corbett:22 refugees. Great sigh of relief
Adam Huggins:And John – he tells it like this:
John Fife:And then both Pat and my wife got together and
John Fife:threatened divorce and said, "Come on, guys, we can't be
John Fife:trying to provide all the care that refugees present to us in
John Fife:terms of their needs in our homes." And so that's when Jim
John Fife:came to me and said, "can we bring those folks to the
John Fife:church?"
Adam Huggins:By all accounts, I think we can conclude that Pat
Adam Huggins:was responsible for moving sanctuary from a tiny apartment
Adam Huggins:to the churches of America, setting the stage for a national
Adam Huggins:modern day Underground Railroad.
John Fife:That's probably an accurate rendering of history in
John Fife:my judgment, yeah.
Adam Huggins:From this point on, sanctuary would be spelled
Adam Huggins:with a capital S.
Adam Huggins:On March 24 1982, Southside Church publicly declared itself
Adam Huggins:to be a Sanctuary for the oppressed of Central America. By
Adam Huggins:1985, over 500 congregations joined creating a national
Adam Huggins:movement, with 1000s of volunteers working to shelter,
Adam Huggins:transport, and house refugees from war torn Central America.
Adam Huggins:Jim, the solitary Quaker, had finally found a home in the
Adam Huggins:church, and his principled stand had created a movement that
Adam Huggins:defied the most powerful government on the face of the
Adam Huggins:earth.
Adam Huggins:You might have a few questions at this point. For example, how
Adam Huggins:did Sanctuary volunteers ensure that the migrants that they were
Adam Huggins:helping were actually refugees? The answer is the church. When
Adam Huggins:he wasn't helping folks cross the borderm Jim traveled
Adam Huggins:extensively throughout southern Mexico and Guatemala during this
Adam Huggins:period, tapping into a network of churches that extended from
Adam Huggins:Latin America, north to the United States. The pastors of
Adam Huggins:these congregations took incredible risks to help
Adam Huggins:migrants on their way north. And in the process, they would vet
Adam Huggins:the migrants to make sure that they weren't unknowingly
Adam Huggins:sheltering people who had no legitimate claim to asylum. By
Adam Huggins:the time these folks actually reached the US border, the
Adam Huggins:Sanctuary network would be able to vouch for them as refugees,
Adam Huggins:regardless of the US government's intransigence on
Adam Huggins:the issue.
Adam Huggins:Later in this series, we'll critique this notion of
Adam Huggins:deserving refugees versus undeserving economic migrants.
Adam Huggins:But for Jim and the other sanctuary volunteers, it was
Adam Huggins:important that they took extreme care to make sure that sanctuary
Adam Huggins:volunteers weren't unknowingly doing the work of coyotes, or
Adam Huggins:other smuggling operations.
Adam Huggins:Another question, how did these churches organize themselves?
Adam Huggins:The answer is through lots of meetings and letters. The
Adam Huggins:horizontal structure of the Sanctuary Movement meant that no
Adam Huggins:one was in charge. And although John and Jim tended to act as
Adam Huggins:national spokespeople, each congregation functioned
Adam Huggins:voluntarily and autonomously. This sometimes led to issues
Adam Huggins:such as certain congregations wanting to politicize the
Adam Huggins:refugees they helped, by asking them to speak out against the
Adam Huggins:right wing governments of Latin America. Jim was strongly
Adam Huggins:against this politicization of sanctuary.
Jim Corbett:It was very firm with everyone here, that that
Jim Corbett:particular approach was one that was morally wrong, that it
Jim Corbett:really is wrong to deny people aid because they don't fit your
Jim Corbett:political purposes. It's wrong to pressure people into fitting
Jim Corbett:your political purposes, who are in desperate situations.
Adam Huggins:In Tucson, at least, Sanctuary would be
Adam Huggins:offered to asylum seekers, regardless of their political
Adam Huggins:orientation. At the time, this elevation of human life over
Adam Huggins:political expediency contrasted sharply with both US government,
Adam Huggins:and more ideological leftist groups and congregations.
Adam Huggins:But the question that I'd like to examine for the rest of this
Adam Huggins:episode, is how did the Sanctuary Movement choose to
Adam Huggins:justify its actions to the citizens and the government of
Adam Huggins:the United States?
John Fife:Well, when we finally in March of 1982, declared
John Fife:Southside Church's as Sanctuary for Central American refugees
John Fife:and received a mother father and two kids – two little kids – in
John Fife:publicly into the sanctuary of the church, I thought and Jim
John Fife:thought, at that point, that we were doing civil disobedience in
John Fife:the tradition of King and Gandhi and Thoreau, and going back to
John Fife:Moses's sister who hit him along the Nile to keep Pharaoh from
John Fife:killing all male children back there
Adam Huggins:Civil disobedience, as many of us are
Adam Huggins:taught in grade school, is a term popularized by 19th century
Adam Huggins:American author Henry David Thoreau. You know, the guy who
Adam Huggins:lived in a cabin on Walden Pond and went to prison for refusing
Adam Huggins:to pay his taxes.
John Fife:And so I talked about King and quoted Gandhi and went
John Fife:on and on when we did the public declaration of Sanctuary here.
John Fife:And about a month after we had done that, I get a call in my
John Fife:office, and this guy says, "I'm a human rights attorney from New
John Fife:York. And you've got to stop talking about civil
John Fife:disobedience. You're not doing civil disobedience." And I
John Fife:laughed, and I said, "What do you mean, the government says
John Fife:they're going to indict us any day now. They keep saying that,
John Fife:and I'm just sitting around waiting for the documents." And
John Fife:he said to me, "Listen, dummy." That's a direct quote, "you're
John Fife:not doing civil disobedience. It's the government that's doing
John Fife:civil disobedience. It's the government that's violating
John Fife:United States refugee law. So every time you talk about civil
John Fife:disobedience, people get it all mixed up. So stop it." And I
John Fife:said, "Oh, I think I understand. But what do we call what we're
John Fife:doing now?" And he said, "I don't know make it up." And so I
John Fife:went to Jim told him about the phone call. And he kind of
John Fife:smiled and came back about three or four days later, with this
John Fife:whole paper that he called on civil initiative.
Adam Huggins:In his essays on the topic, Jim converses with
Adam Huggins:Thoreau, Gandhi, and Hobbs to articulate a new paradigm for
Adam Huggins:radical justice. He called it civil initiative.
Goatwalking:Civil initiative maintains and extends the rule
Goatwalking:of law. Unlike civil disobedience, which breaks it,
Goatwalking:and civil obedience, which lets the government break it.
Adam Huggins:Civil initiative reframed the discussion, casting
Adam Huggins:the government as the one that was violating its own laws, and
Adam Huggins:higher laws as well.
Jim Corbett:Conventional civil disobedience would simply
Jim Corbett:concede to the government the destruction of the refugee laws
Jim Corbett:– that what was at stake was international human rights and
Jim Corbett:humanitarian law and the domestic refugee law. And that
Jim Corbett:it was very important not to take a traditional civil
Jim Corbett:disobedience approach. If we were going to save the laws,
Jim Corbett:because if when the government violates the law that way, and
Jim Corbett:is attacking it, you simply concede their legitimacy and say
Jim Corbett:that you're breaking the law, then that just does it in.
Jim Corbett:You're not going to save the law, any of the law at that
Jim Corbett:point.
Adam Huggins:This framing was crucial in convincing so many
Adam Huggins:people who would not otherwise engage in quote, unquote,
Adam Huggins:illegal behavior, to take up Jim's proposition of
Adam Huggins:collectively enacting US immigration law at the
Adam Huggins:grassroots level, even as the US government itself under the
Adam Huggins:Reagan administration violated it.
John Fife:I mean, it's one thing to go to Presbyterian
John Fife:churches or Catholic churches or Jewish synagogues and say, "we'd
John Fife:like you to join us in doing civil disobedience with all of
John Fife:the negative and risk aspects, that that would have entailed,"
John Fife:it's quite another thing to go to them and say "it's the
John Fife:government that's violating human rights and United States
John Fife:law. Join us in an active public resistance to government
John Fife:crimes." That puts a very different incentive and
John Fife:prospective for risk taking under those conditions. It meant
John Fife:we were able to build a movement quickly.
Adam Huggins:This movement, grounded in international human
Adam Huggins:rights law, US law, as it was written, and the divine laws of
Adam Huggins:the church, joined a long tradition of people, especially
Adam Huggins:Indigenous people and people of color, who had risked everything
Adam Huggins:to defy a US government, which, throughout time, has steadily
Adam Huggins:refused to live up to its own laws, principles, and founding
Adam Huggins:documents.
John Fife:Oh, sure, if you look back, you can make a clear case
John Fife:that Dr. King was not doing civil disobedience. He was doing
John Fife:civil initiative, as we understood it in our movement.
John Fife:You can go on and on and on throughout history and say, "no,
John Fife:no, that's not civil disobedience."
Adam Huggins:Today, when I think of mutual aid movements,
Adam Huggins:and so many people coming together to resist the wholesale
Adam Huggins:destruction of human and biological communities. I think
Adam Huggins:of the power of this reconceptualization of civil
Adam Huggins:disobedience to civil initiative. It acknowledges a
Adam Huggins:fundamental kind of work that we can only do when we act as a
Adam Huggins:community. Jim would later write:
Goatwalking:Individuals can resist injustice, but only
Goatwalking:community can do justice.
Adam Huggins:Of course, the US government acknowledges no
Adam Huggins:higher authority than its own, in practice. And it was only a
Adam Huggins:matter of time before Jim, John, and a number of other sanctuary
Adam Huggins:volunteers were brought to trial. The Sanctuary Movement
Adam Huggins:had been infiltrated, and covert tape recordings were made,
Adam Huggins:followed by charges. The judge was prejudiced and wouldn't
Adam Huggins:allow Jim and his co-defendants to present a defense at all –
Adam Huggins:ruling that no discussion of sanctuary or refugees would be
Adam Huggins:admitted. The story of the trial is fascinating, and has been
Adam Huggins:thoroughly documented in other media, including the 99%
Invisible series. The outcome:
:several folks were convicted,
Invisible series. The outcome:
:including John Fife, but Jim and others were found innocent, and
Invisible series. The outcome:
:the charges were later overturned, or sentences
Invisible series. The outcome:
:reduced. Ironically, Jim Corbett, the man that the
Invisible series. The outcome:
:government had wanted most to convict, hadn't been in Tucson
Invisible series. The outcome:
:when the government informit infiltrated the sanctuary
Invisible series. The outcome:
:network.
John Fife:He was spending all of his time border south to
John Fife:Central America, putting that part of the Underground Railroad
John Fife:together so we could get people safely out of Central American
John Fife:and to the border. And so they had no evidence against him. So
John Fife:that's why he was found innocent
Adam Huggins:In the end, what the trial served to do was to
Adam Huggins:strengthen the Sanctuary Movement, giving it a national
Adam Huggins:stage and the righteous narrative of the church standing
Adam Huggins:up to a tyrannical government. Sanctuary in this incarnation
Adam Huggins:would continue into the late 1980s, until the number of
Adam Huggins:refugees seeking asylum began to decrease. For Jim, the end of
Adam Huggins:the trial also signaled to him that he could finally start to
Adam Huggins:step back from Sanctuary work.
Jim Corbett:In some measure, I can, I think, now turn back to
Jim Corbett:the things that I choose to do. My agenda has been set by the
Jim Corbett:refugee situation, I wouldn't have simply chosen this out of
Jim Corbett:the various social concerns. If I have been choosing, and
Jim Corbett:environmental concerns and rediscovery of the Sabbath, are
Jim Corbett:some of the things that I am very interested in pursuing now,
Jim Corbett:I think I have the chance to attend to, I might even do a
Jim Corbett:new, revised, updated version of Goatwalking manuscripts.
Adam Huggins:This would be the time that Jim would finally
Adam Huggins:finish his first book, Goatwalking. But he also had a
Adam Huggins:new project in mind. One that spoke more to Aldo Leopold, than
Adam Huggins:to Henry David Thoreau.
Jim Corbett:And the whole development of the land ethic in
Jim Corbett:which there is protective, symbiotic community at work. So
Jim Corbett:that, I think my attitudes with regard to the refugees, the
Jim Corbett:reasons I took the course of action I did were very much
Jim Corbett:formed by this other broader attitude towards the fact that
Jim Corbett:human beings have an enormous responsibility to bring into
Jim Corbett:full, reflective consciousness that community that does exist
Jim Corbett:among all living things. That life is in fact among us rather
Jim Corbett:than in us. And that definitely has a bearing on my
Jim Corbett:understanding of what Sanctuary is. And Sanctuary in its
Jim Corbett:broadest sense extends far beyond Central America and
Jim Corbett:specific human refugees, to the need for a harmonious community
Jim Corbett:among all living things,
Adam Huggins:Extending Sanctuary to all life. That's
Adam Huggins:next time, in part three of Goatwalkar.
Adam Huggins:Goatwalker is produced by myself, Adam Huggins and Mendel
Adam Huggins:Skulski for Future Ecologies. Ilana Fonoriov is the Associate
Adam Huggins:Producer for the series. For photos, citations and more
Adam Huggins:information about the people and events described in this
Adam Huggins:episode, including some truly incredible photos of Jim from
Adam Huggins:the Sanctuary years. Please visit futureecologies.net.
Adam Huggins:In this episode, you heard Ann Russel, Tom Orum, John Fife, Pat
Adam Huggins:Corbett, Gary Paul Nabhan, Jim Corbett, and Miriam Davidson.
Adam Huggins:Narration was by Philip Buller
Adam Huggins:Music was by People with Bodies, Meteoric, Hidden Sky, and
Adam Huggins:Sunfish Moon Light. The Goatwalker theme is by Ryder
Adam Huggins:Thomas White, and Sunfish Moon Light. Special thanks to Theresa
Adam Huggins:Madison, Susan Tollefson, John Fife, Pat Corbett, Nancy
Adam Huggins:Ferguson, Tom Orum, Gary Paul Nabhan, Gita Bodner, Amanda
Adam Huggins:Howard and the University of Arizona, Sadie Couture, Phil
Adam Huggins:Buller and Danny Elmes
Adam Huggins:Future ecologies is an independent production supported
Adam Huggins:by our patrons. To join them, go to patreon.com/futureecologies.
Adam Huggins:This series was recorded on the territory of the Tohono O’odham,
Adam Huggins:and produced on the unceded, shared, and asserted territory
Adam Huggins:of the Penelakut, Hwlitsum, Lelum Sar Augh Ta Naogh, and
Adam Huggins:other Hul’qumi’num speaking peoples.