Sanctuary Cities, Communities, and Organizations: A Nation at a Crossroads

by Melvin Delgado

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.

296 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2018

Reviews

[Neal Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book puts the sanctuary city phenomenon into historical context, is insightful on the experiences of current unauthorized (i.e. undocumented) immigrants and the political and grassroots support they have received, and has useful bibliography. The historical context is not just religious but also social, for example the medieval principle of “Stadtluft macht frei” (“city air makes you free”) as an escape from serfdom. An example from modern USA is that, on the one hand, the Social Security Trust Fund received over $100 billion over a 10-year period from people using false or expired Social Security numbers, yet using a false Social Security number is a felony that can get you jailed.

On the negative side, the author’s writing is frustratingly slack, repetitive, and imprecise. As an academic I ask my PhD students to avoid using unattributed quotes as an excuse for vague thinking. Here’s an example from the current book:

It is impossible to separate “labels” from the topic of “immigration”. The term “citizenship,” too, brings discussion points that are open to debate and, therefore, controversy.

Copy editing is poor. For example, “deportations by non-citizens” should surely be “of non-citizens”, and ‘getting into the “tweeds”’ should be ‘getting into the “weeds”’. Some sentences are just pointless, e.g. “I do not possess the philosophical acumen to engage in an erudite discussion of sanctuary as a state of mind or virtual environment” or “The movement is anything but boring or dying.”

One chapter is titled “Geographical Location of Sanctuary Designations” but instead of any maps has long lists of counties by state.

So overall it’s frustrating that this important topic is addressed in such a rambling and diffuse way.

[Mills College Library]

325 D3525 2018

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style is not the best, but Delgado offers a thorough introduction to the state of immigration law, sanctuary policies, and activism in 2018.