{{Short description|U.S. minister and human rights activist}} {{use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{For|the surgeon|John Fife (surgeon)}} '''John Fife''' (born 1940) is a human rights activist and retired Presbyterian minister who lives in Tucson, Arizona. He was a member of the Sanctuary Movement and was a co-founder of the immigrant rights group No More Deaths.
Rev. Fife served as a minister for 35 years at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, a church with a strong focus on social justice issues.<ref>[http://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/info/mission.html Southside Presbyterian Church Mission Statement.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823090142/http://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/info/mission.html |date=2007-08-23 }}</ref> In 1992 Fife was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).<ref>[http://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/info/mission.html Sanctuary Movement Founder Rev. John Fife.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823090142/http://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/info/mission.html |date=2007-08-23 }} Vassar College Relations Web site.</ref> He is now Pastor Emeritus at Southside Presbyterian.<ref>[http://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/info/staff.html Southside Presbyterian Church Staff.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821172334/http://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/info/staff.html |date=2007-08-21 }}</ref>
In the 1980s John Fife and James A. Corbett co-founded the Sanctuary Movement in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Delaney |title=Sanctuary |url=https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/612-sanctuary/ |website=99% Invisible |access-date=23 April 2025 |date=21 January 2025}}</ref> Volunteers in the movement provided support to Central American refugees, many of whom were fleeing U.S.-supported death squads in their home countries of El Salvador and Guatemala. The movement organized over 500 churches to help the refugees cross the border and find sanctuary in the U.S., in defiance of federal law. In 1986 Fife was convicted, along with seven other people, of violating federal immigration laws and served five years probation.<ref name="democracynow.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/23/1350219 |title=Interview with John Fife on Democracy Now! |date=23 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114212741/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07%2F04%2F23%2F1350219 |archive-date=14 November 2007 }}</ref>
In 2004 a group of religious leaders in Tucson formed a coalition called No More Deaths to attempt to end the deaths of immigrants along the United States-Mexico border.<ref>[http://nomoredeaths.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=27 No More Deaths History]</ref> John Fife was among the leaders of that effort and continues to work closely with No More Deaths.<ref name="democracynow.org"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.trackedinamerica.org/timeline/sanctuary/fife/ Reverend John Fife: A Call for Sanctuary]
{{s-start}} {{s-rel}} {{s-bef|before=The Rev. Dr. Herbert D. Valentine}} {{s-ttl|title=Moderator of the 204th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)|years=1992–1993}} {{s-aft|after=The Rev. David Dobler}} {{end}}
{{PC(USA) General Assembly moderators}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fife, John}} Category:1940 births Category:20th-century American Presbyterian ministers Category:Human migration Category:Immigration to the United States Category:Leaders of Christian parachurch organizations Category:Living people Category:Presbyterian Church (USA) teaching elders Category:Moderators of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)