Sanctuary Movement

The Crackdown On Sanctuary Cities Gives Birth To ‘Freedom Cities’

September 22, 2018 By Adam Edelman, Nbcnews.com Create! Class Struggle, Deportations, Immigration, Repression, Revisionism, Sanctuary Movement

Advocates for undocumented immigrants believe they've found a new — and legal — way to skirt deportation efforts. If Attorney General Jeff Sessions is waging war to dismantle sanctuary cities, imagine how he feels about "freedom cities." Austin, Texas, became the latest major city to declare itself a "freedom city" in June, when the city council passed resolutions instructing the city's police officers to arrest fewer people for minor crimes like possessing a small amount of marijuana and driving without a valid license, as well as taking steps to protect undocumented immigrants. "Freedom city policies are basically an expansion of the old sanctuary city policies," said Austin Council member Greg Casar, who helped write the resolutions. "They pick up where sanctuary policies were cut off."

Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Administration Lawsuit Against California Sanctuary Laws

July 10, 2018 Antonia Blumberg, Huffingtonpost.com.mx Resist! California, Lawsuit, Sanctuary Movement, Trump Administration

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging several California laws that protect undocumented immigrants. U.S. District Judge John Mendez sided with California in its request to reject the Justice Department’s complaint against SB 54, known as the “sanctuary state law,” and AB 103, which requires transparency in the monitoring of detention facilities, as well as a provision of AB 450, the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, that requires employers to inform workers before handing over their employment records to federal authorities. Mendez ruled that the government’s case against other provisions of AB 450 would be allowed to go forward that make employers risk a fine for failing to keep federal agents out of their workplaces without a warrant.

If We Want To Support Refugees, We Need To End The Wars That Create Them

March 15, 2018 By Azadeh Shahshahani and Maha Hilal, Inthesetimes.com Educate! Anti-War, Refugees, Sanctuary Movement, Wars and Militarism

The concept of sanctuary, providing refuge and protection to people who are marginalized and oppressed, has a long history in the United States—even when the United States itself is responsible for that repression. An early example of sanctuary in the United States is the Underground Railroad of the 19th century, which helped people escape slavery through routes and houses identified as safe by abolitionists and freedom seekers. In the 1950s and 60s, African-American organizers of the civil rights movement often held meetings in churches. Immigrant justice advocates have pioneered “sanctuary churches” since the 1980s. These days, the concept is most often associated with so-called “sanctuary cities”—state and local jurisdictions that say they refuse to cooperate with federal efforts to deport undocumented residents. These cities have been relentlessly targeted by the Trump administration.

New York Teamsters Become A Sanctuary Union

February 16, 2018 Ana Campoy, Qz.com Resist! Immigration, New York (NY), Sanctuary Movement, Undocumented

Donald Trump is selling his proposal to dramatically cut immigration to the US as a necessary protection for the blue-collar workers of the US. Fewer immigrants would mean higher wages for American workers, and more opportunities for them to flourish, White House officials told reporters during a Feb. 14 call about the president’s plan. At least 120,000 workers are not buying that argument. Teamsters Joint Council 16, a union that represents workers in New York City and surrounding areas, has declared itself a “sanctuary union” to protect its undocumented members. Like some of the cities and states that have implemented “sanctuary” policies, it is refusing to cooperate with federal officials attempting to deport them, and will not collect any information that could be used for that purpose.

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