How the sanctuary movement offers lessons for fighting ICE: 'an impact that spans decades'

A California law enacted in 2018 limits local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration officials, preventing local police from arresting someone solely for having a deportation order or keeping them in custody longer than necessary to allow time for immigration officers to arrive. The state’s share of national ICE arrests has fallen, as has the number of people transferred from state prison to ICE custody, but challenges to California’s law and “sanctuary” policies like it are mounting.

Sanctuary cities aim to protect undocumented residents through local ordinances and policies, typically by limiting cooperation with federal immigration officials and by not requesting information on the immigration status of residents who use municipal services. Research has shown that such policies have historically helped reduce the number of deportations of people without criminal backgrounds and that communities with sanctuary policies have not seen any increase in crime as a result, but data on the impacts of more recent sanctuary efforts are limited.

Congress created the U visa program in 2000 to encourage undocumented immigrants to report crimes to the police and cooperate with investigations and prosecutions. The visa legalizes an immigrant's status, if certified by a law enforcement agency and approved by the federal government. Some police departments, like Whitehall, Ohio's, routinely reject requests for certification because they want to avoid entanglements in immigration matters, or simply because they are anti-immigrant. No national rules require agencies to comply with the system, though some states do.

Over 20 U.S. cities have passed municipal I.D. laws, which provide a form of identification to undocumented immigrants. “Municipal IDs are one of the most effective measures that cities can implement to protect and empower undocumented people.” Poughkeepsie, New York, is the latest city to pass such a law, and several others are in the process of doing so.

A group of activists in Waukesha, Wisconsin are honoring the role of immigrants in the community by mobilizing 10,000 people from rural and urban areas across the state to march for the "Day without Latinx & Immigrants." The group, called Voces De La Frontera, also uses the collective power immigrant workers have in the dairy state to influence policy and gain protections for migrants. Through inclusion and conversation, Voces now has 1,500 members, nine adult chapters, and 15 youth chapters in schools, all working together to support immigrants in Wisconsin.

In Lebanon, services for refugees are often misguided and ineffective. To address this issue, the country created a cash-debit card allowance for refugees, providing a more appropriate resource than the typical aid program.

The Winooski School District, in which 60 percent of students are people of color and about a third are learning English, passed a sanctuary policy protecting its community from immigration enforcement on school grounds. The move, along with other efforts like staff serving as temporary guardians for students whose parents are concerned about detainment, has helped the school community feel safer and more supported, but the district has also received threats because of its approach.

Non-citizen residents of Takoma Park, Maryland have been able to vote in municipal elections since 1993, and 16- and 17-year-olds there have had access to the ballot since 2013. Residents of the city, where roughly 30% of the population was born outside of the United States, say participating in city elections makes them feel more welcome in the community and helps them get invested in local issues.

Drawing on lessons learned during the 2015 refugee crisis in Europe, organizations such as Zusammenleben Wilkommen are working to connect Ukrainian refugees with housing, employment, and social support. Since the Russian invasion, the platform, which helps match refugees with rooms in shared apartments, has seen a spike in users offering up accommodations.

The Industrial Areas Foundation, the country’s oldest community organizing group, adapted to coronavirus restrictions by using technology to win relief for immigrants without legal documentation in California. Organizing a diverse coalition over zoom had many challenges, but they successfully won the expansion of the California Earned Income Tax Credit to include people who file taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, rather than a Social Security number. This applies to about one-tenth of California’s workforce who mainly work in hard-hit service and agriculture industries.