Immigration, Migration, and Refugee History & Rights

The federal government is proceeding with plans for a border wall even as communities where construction is ongoing protest the presence of workers.

A federal judge in Arizona on Monday settled a lawsuit filed against the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, saying the agencies failed to study potential harms to the environment from increased enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Four migrant families separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration will be reunited this week, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday, marking the first reunifications under President Joe Biden.

A few dozen people gathered Friday to protest new border wall going up along Arizona's last free-flowing river.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday that it will begin work to address the risks of flooding and soil erosion from unfinished sections of the wall on the U...

The idea of weaponizing the border reaches back to at least the 1970s, when the U.S. began to turn its attention away from the Vietnam War.

Cochise County officials and conservationists are frustrated that Customs and Border Protection is ignoring local input as it pushes ahead with a barrier across the San Pedro River, which flows north from Mexico and is one of the last undammed rivers in the Southwest.

Contractors continue to install new border barriers across the U.S.-Mexico border, including many across sensitive lands, including Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge and Cabeza Prieta National Monument.

What do San Francisco, Chicago, and Albany, NY have in common? They’re sanctuary cities - among hundreds of other U.S. cities, states, and counties that have declared their support for immigrant populations, often by limiting their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement - otherwise known as ICE. Safe havens to some, crime-infested danger zones to

The Takeaway is America's weekday conversation.

Elizabeth Price Foley of Florida International University and Cristina Rodriguez of Yale University discuss President Trump's executive order on immigration and how Congress could respond to sanctuary cities going forward. Continue today’s conversation on Facebookand Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. We want to know what you think of the podcast! Email us at editor@constitutioncenter.org. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network. Check out the full roster of podcasts at Panoply.fm. Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more. This show was engineered by Kevin Kilbourne and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich and Tom Donnelly. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Our fourth episode of “What You Need to Know on Immigration” covers so-called “sanctuary cities” and their place in the politics of immigration. BPC’s Theresa Brown and Jordan LaPier cover what exactly a sanctuary city is; the relationship between state, local, and federal law enforcement on immigration; and legal challenges to sanctuary cities (such as the high-profile “Kate’s Law”... Source

In the 1980s, the United States experienced a refugee crisis. Thousands of Central Americans were fleeing civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, traveling north through Mexico, and crossing the border into the U.S. [Note: Just tuning in? Listen to … Continue reading →

In the 1980s, Rev. John Fife and his congregation at Southside Presbyterian Church began to help Central American migrants fleeing persecution from US backed dictatorships. Their efforts would mark the beginning of a new — and controversial — social movement … Continue reading →

"The term 'sanctuary city' gained a new level of national recognition during the 2016 United States presidential election, and immigration policies and debates have remained a top issue since the election of Donald Trump. The battle over immigration and deportation will be waged on many fronts in the coming years, but sanctuary cities - municipalities that resist the national government's efforts to enforce immigration laws - are likely to be on the front lines for the immediate future, and social workers and others in the helping professions have vital roles to play. In this book, Melvin Delgado offers a compelling case for the centrality of sanctuary cities' cause to the very mission and professional identity of social workers and others in the human services and mental health professions. The text also presents a historical perspective on the rise of the sanctuary movements of the 1970s and 2000s, thereby giving context to the current environment and immigration debate. Sanctuary Cities, Communities, and Organizations serves as a helpful resource for human service practitioners, academics, and the general public alike"--Publisher's website.

Sanctuary cities, or localities where officials are prohibited from inquiring into immigration status, have become a part of the broader debate on undocumented immigration in the United States. Despite the increasing amount of coverage sanctuary policies receive, the American public knows little about these policies. In this book, Loren Collingwood and Benjamin Gonzalez O'Brien delve into the history, media coverage, effects, and public opinion on these sanctuary policies in the hope of helping readers reach an informed decision regarding them.

"Just days after taking the White House, Donald Trump signed three executive orders targeting noncitizens-authorizing the Muslim Ban, the border wall, and ICE raids. The new administration's approach towards noncitizens was defined by bans, walls, and raids. This is the essential primer on how we got here, and what we must do to create a different future. Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary shows that these features have a long history and have long harmed all of us and our relationships to each other. The 45th president's xenophobic, racist, ableist, patriarchal ascendancy is no aberration, but the consequence of two centuries of U.S. political, economic, and social culture. Further, as A. Naomi Paik deftly demonstrates, the attacks against migrants are tightly bound to assaults against women, people of color, workers, ill and disabled people, queer and gender non-conforming people. These attacks are neither un-American nor unique. By showing how the problems we face today are embedded in the very foundation of the US, this book is a rallying cry for a broad-based, abolitionist sanctuary movement for all"--

What is a sanctuary city? We answer with an example that explains what immigration detainers are and why we should call them "constitutional cities".

Here are answers to common questions churches have when considering whether to provide sanctuary, but it is not legal advice and does not substitute for consultation with an attorney.

Updated 10/4/22: Map and list of sanctuary cities, counties, and state that are obstructing federal immigration enforcement.

The concept of “sanctuary” congregations has many definitions and applications. In the 1980s, Reform Movement congregations provided sanctuary primarily to central Americans at risk of deportation. As the Union for Reform Judaism stated in a 1985 resolution:

Proponents say sanctuary citites encourage better police relations. Opponents say the cities harbor criminals.

A growing movement of immigrant and over 700 faith communities doing what Congress and the Administration refuse to do: protect and stand with immigrants facing deportation.

One way people of faith and conscience can help provide sanctuary is by working partners in cities, counties, school districts and other local governmen...

Sanctuary policies do not conceal or shelter unauthorized immigrants from detection. Here's what you need to know about these policies.

Background on so-called sanctuary policies and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) on federal, state and local action on immigration enforcement.

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics

Naomi Tsu, an attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, answers questions about sanctuary cities.