The Sanctuary Trial

This book deals with the trial that took place in Tucson, Arizona in 1985-1986 involving leading members of the Sanctuary Movement. D. Matas, a lawyer in Winnipeg and instructor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba, was an observer at the trial for the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. Mr Matas's report on the trial falls into three parts. In the first part, he gives a background to the trial. He describes human rights violations in El Salvador and Guatemala and the circumstances leading to denial of protection of Central American refugees in Mexico. He then looks at the difficulties aliens face in entering the United States, coerced voluntary departure and detention. Various detention centres in the United States are described as well as US laws relating to detention. A separate chapter deals with the United States claims system and extended voluntary departure. A history of the Sanctuary Movement is also presented. In the second part of the book Mr Matas focuses on the trial itself. He gives an overview of the parties involved, the charges presented, the cases for both sides and the verdict and sentence. The third part of the book offers a commentary on the trial. Mr Matas not only examines the activities of the prosecution, defence and the judge, but he analyses the relevance of international law to the case and the relationship of international law to United States law. Finally, the author discusses the relevance of the trial to Canada and Canadian refugee law.