UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Places of Sanctuary: Religious Revivalism and the Politics of Immigration in New Mexico Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0ns1c72h Author Villarreal Garza, Amy Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ PLACES OF SANCTUARY: RELIGIOUS REVIVALISM AND THE POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION IN NEW MEXICO A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in ANTHROPOLOGY by Amy Villarreal Garza March 2014 The Dissertation of Amy Villarreal Garza is approved: _______________________________ Professor Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Chair _______________________________ Professor Susan F. Harding _______________________________ Professor Triloki N. Pandey ______________________________ Tyrus Miller, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Table of Contents Abstract v Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Entering the Ethnographic Arena The Resurgence of Mexican Migration to northern New Mexico Who is a “native” New Mexican? The Sanctuary City Research Questions Fieldwork and Methods Analysis of Data Structure of the Argument Chapter One 52 A State for Sanctuary: The Career of a Controversial Proclamation Searching for Sanctuary A Brief History of the Sanctuary Movement Legislative Movidas Proclaiming Political Theology Statements of Exception Sanctuary and Chicano Political Power Acts of Faith and Politics Between Conspiracy and Charity The Sacred Passport Chapter Two 124 The Intimacy of Politics: Sanctuary on Trial in New Mexico States of Intimacy The Sanctuary Run Baby Norma’s Unexpected Journey Enemy Mine: William Luz vs. Toney Anaya The Public Conversion Project Constructing Legal Truths and Untruths Judging Sanctuary’s Convictions Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Religion? Sanctuary’s Deceptions Legacies of the Sanctuary State Vindicating the Sanctuary Movement Chapter Three 211 Claiming Moral Ground: Driver’s Licenses and Legitimacy of Presence iii The Doings of Documents A Brief History of Somos Un Pueblo Unido Building the Sanctuary Polity Licensing Local Citizens Local Immigration Policy Activism Reversals of Fortune The Moraline Object Navigating Moraline Drift Into the Legislative Fray The Shadow Side of Sanctuary Legitimacy of Presence Ghosts in the Political Machine Chapter Four 305 Borderlands Charisma: The Transnational Turn from Catholic Traditionalism Failures of Translation Arrivals of Charismatic Revivalism Live and Direct from the Holy Spirit Borderlands Charisma Las Tinieblas: The Awakening Borderlands Religion and Migrant Sanctuaries Translocating La Comunidad Reviving “Dead” Catholics Sentimental Solidarities Worship is Warfare Interlude 363 El Corrido de mi Licencia/My Driver’s License Chapter Five 364 Anthropolocura: Tying Up Loose Ends iv Abstract Places of Sanctuary: Religious Revivalism and the Politics of Immigration in New Mexico By Amy Villarreal Garza This dissertation examines the overlapping dimensions of secular and religious sanctuary place making by comparing the faith-based Sanctuary Movement(s) of the 1980s with the rise of present-day local immigration policy activism in New Mexico and beyond. Placing immigrant rights activism alongside religious revivalism, I also examine how the contemporary immigrant rights movement intersects with Renovación Carismática, a transnational Catholic charismatic renewal movement that originated in Chihuahua, México, and is growing in popularity among Mexican immigrants in northern New Mexico and many other states in the Southwestern vicinity. Mexican migrants’ participation in both movements cultivates “communities of protection” that blur the lines between sacred and secular spaces, while also crossing ideological boundaries that separate legislating from evangelizing and legality from theology. Bringing different sites and configurations of sanctuary place making together in a historically contingent and comparative analysis, this research illuminates how new religious and political subjectivities are made in a changing post-migration landscape. This dissertation contributes to studies of immigration, religion, and social movements incorporating both historical and ethnographic methods and analysis of diverse sets of data including archival materials, oral history interviews, and v contemporary ethnography. The first part of this dissertation is historical and traces the life of New Mexico's controversial sanctuary state declaration as a political theology that produced unexpected social and legal effects. I use the document to reconstruct a history of the sanctuary movement in the tri-state region and to narrate the events that led up to the dramatic 1988 Sanctuary Trial that defined the movement in New Mexico. Connecting the Sanctuary Movement(s) of the past with contemporary local immigration policy activism, the second part of this study focuses on the work of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, the leading immigrant rights organization in the state. Illuminating the interactivity between the immigrant rights movement and Renovación Carismática in the 2011 legislative battle over immigrant drivers' licenses, I show how the document became a "vibrant object," that materialized immigrants' local citizenship and legitimacy of presence. Finally, I uncover the transborder mobilities and secular and religious innovations of Renovación Carismática through the migration experiences of a family of talented lay preachers and musicians from Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua who brought borderlands charisma to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Santa Fe and reignited the spirit of renewal. vi Acknowledgements Writing a dissertation is an intellectual labor of love (and its many opposites), but also a unique journey of personal discovery that has brought me many gifts. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the generous individuals who helped tame my wild ideas, served as spiritual guides, brought me back to earth, and provided me with rock solid emotional support during some of the darkest hours of my life. I will begin with my wonderful advisor, Dr. Olga Nájera- Ramírez, a woman of many talents, principal among them the ability to keep her student’s eyes on the prize and head toward the finish line. I am grateful for her patience, constant encouragement, and for bringing out the best in me as both a scholar and a person. She will always be a singular example of a scholar and mentor that I myself can only hope to emulate. I am also grateful to have encountered Dr. Loki Pandey, who I (and many others) consider to be one of the giants of New Mexico anthropology. He helped me to see the old works in a different light through his gift for storytelling and taught me things about my homeland that I did not know. Due to Loki’s influence, I traveled to Zuni where I saw his name in the local museum and felt his indelible warmth and presence in the majesty of Corn Mountain. I owe many thanks to Dr. Catherine Ramírez who gave me wise and practice advice about surviving motherhood and graduate school in her signature candid and humorous fashion. In her American Studies seminars she demystified democracy for me and steered me toward immigration politics. Without her influence and intellectual guidance, this project would have taken an altogether different and vii certainly less interesting form. I am also indebted to Dr. Susan Harding who taught me that ethnography is a practice that requires us to take risks, to enter spaces of intense discomfort and vulnerability in order to write honestly. She also inspired me to find my way out of the dusty box of religious studies by illuminating the path of the secular. I greatly benefited from my time at the School of Advanced Research, where I was provided a supportive place to think and write during the 2011 – 2012 academic year and had access to campus resources and programs. Most importantly, I had the opportunity to befriend a brilliant cohort of scholars who enriched this project with their diverse knowledges and kind critiques and also enriched my life in countless ways. I would like to personally recognize and express my appreciation to Wossen Argaw, Marge Bruchac, Craig Janes and Kitty King Corbet, Teresa McCarty and John Martin, Jennifer McCarty, Nancy Marie Mithlo, Kelsey Potdevin, and the always delightful, Julie Weise. My time at SAR would have not been possible without the gracious support and encouragement of former President, James F. Brooks and members of the administrative team including John Kantner, Cynthia Chavez Lamar, and Nicole Taylor, as well as senior scholars Dean Falk and the unforgettable, Linda Cordell. I would also like to personally thank Lisa Pacheco, a fellow Nuevomexicana and kindred spirit, who has offered me helpful advice about writing and publishing my research. Finally, I give my thanks to all the SAR staff. There are many important people who contributed to my intellectual development and suffered along with me on the formidable path to becoming an viii anthropologist and also contributed to the design and completion of this dissertation. The members of my cohort and fellow students of anthropology at UCSC are deserving of accolades and genuine appreciation for their thoughtful comments on my work, energetic seminar discussions, and for their friendship and support through the thick and thin. Special thanks to Patricia Alvarez, Sarah Bakker, Joshua