Margarita, a 24-year old refugee camp worker, fled El Salvador when she felt her life was in danger. "To go in and out of the refugee camps is to become a sure target of the security forces or of the death squads," the native of San Jose de la Montana told local reporters last fall. After a visit with Cambridge public officials, Margarita joined Saul, Mario, and 14 other refugees in a 30-city tour of New England--a symbolic journey to protest this nation's immigration policies toward Central American aliens.

When the city declared itself a sanctuary for Central American refugees exactly one year ago, Cambridge attracted nationwide attention for its decision to join a growing movement to grant sanctuary to refugees from El Salvador, Haiti, and Guatemala. But since then, the thrust of the local sanctuary movement has shifted to several community groups quietly working to keep the idea alive in Cambridge: from the year-long effort to harbor a refugee in a local church to this week's shipment of supplies to a university in El Salvador.

Open Door Policy

After hearing horror stories of torture, murder and rape in Central America, this Massachusetts community of 95,000 people first opened its doors to political exiles when the City Council voted to designate Cambridge as a "sanctuary city"--one of more than a dozen localities which officially pledge to provide relief services to refugees in open defiance of federal immigration authorities.

The mostly symbolic declaration, though not calling for the city to harbor illegal immigrants, forbids municipal employees from cooperating with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in the deportation of illegal aliens. And while community activists as well as city and federal officials still dispute the efficacy of such a stand, most agree that the resolution has had less of an impact than the nationwide publicity originally indicated.

Proponents of the resolution first claimed that sanctuary would enable Cambridge to provide public assistance to those undocumented residents who live here in fear of being deported. Before the declaration last April 9, liberal city lawmakers claimed that refugees were forced to forego Cambridge's human service programs for fear of deportation.

But critics of the city's actions disagreed, saying that the Cambridge should not be involved in immigration policymaking and that the resolution would only attract aliens who would drain the city's resources. Although the city manager was directed to provide social services to all refugees, local school and hospital officials said they were already opening their doors to illegal aliens.

Today, hundreds of citizens no longer call city hall about the movement as they did last year, but the battle of words continues between critics and proponents. "[Sanctuary] only encourages [refugees] to come here when under other circumstances they wouldn't," says City Councilor Thomas W. Danehy, who voted against the original resolution.

Symbolism

Most of those who sympathize with the sanctuary movement describe the impact of the city's resolution on the plight of refugees as minimal, but say that the publicity has generated more concern about immigration issues.

"[Sanctuary] has a symbolic value," says City Councilor David E. Sullivan. "It makes [refugees] feel like Cambridge is their home, which is what we want them to feel." The local lawmaker also says that the city's declaration has helped reduce discrimination on the basis of immigration status.

A city of diverse populations, Cambridge has more than 5000 Spanish-speaking Haitians, Salvadorans and Guatemalans--representing almost five percent of the city's population--and at least that number in undocumented refugees. "The Haitians in Cambridge have appreciated the gesture," says John Barnes, director of the Cambridge Haitian-American Association. "They feel more accepted than they have felt. It gives them more courage to stand up for their rights."

"I think it was a recognition of the presence of Haitians here and a statement saying, 'we recognize you and accept your presence, and we're not going to cooperate with those who are abusing you," Barnes says.

The federal government, which has deported almost all Salvadorans who have applied for political asylum under the law, claims the illegal aliens are economic rather than political refugees who seek jobs in this country.

But across the nation, city resolutions granting sanctuary to Central American refugees have had little impact on the government's ability to seek out and expel foreigners living here illegally. Among the cities which have declared themselves refugee sanctuaries are Ithaca N.Y., Berkeley, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn. While the city of Los Angeles rescinded its sanctuary status last month, the governor of New Mexico two weeks ago declared the state a haven for illegal aliens. Brookline is the only other Massachusetts community which has declared itself a sanctuary.