Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants-And Why It Still Matters

From church basements to city streets, this is the definitive account of one of America's most enduring movements for justice and what it can teach us.

As masked government agents roam the streets of American cities, tossing people into unmarked vans for the crime of speaking Spanish, the U.S. government's war on undocumented immigrants has never been waged more fiercely. But regular people are fighting back, and when they do, they often invoke the notion of "sanctuary." While Donald Trump issues executive orders from the White House, promising to leave no stone unturned and threatening to storm church doors in search of "illegal invaders," sanctuary activists cry that their directive to welcome the stranger comes from a higher power. At the same time, members of the Trump administration invoke "sanctuary" almost daily to decry a "migrant invasion" of the nation.

This showdown is not new. In Sanctuary in America, Lloyd D. Barba and Sergio M. González--co-hosts of the Sanctuary podcast--tell the story of how sanctuary activists have, for nearly half a century, organized one of the most robust civil disobedience movements in American history. Rigorous yet readable, this book provides a sweeping historical account of a movement that emerged in the 1980s and how the past can help us better understand the New Sanctuary Movement of the twenty-first century. Replete with human interest stories, Sanctuary in America draws upon extensive archival data from across the country to tell the full story of one of the most successful resistance movements of the last fifty years. A compelling story of migrant journeys, religious activism, and political showdowns, this book speaks to those attempting to navigate the trying and tumultuous present.