Cities and Migration

Sanctuary and Resistance

Sanctuary and Resistance in 2025 is an invite-only monthly roundtable discussion series and working group hosted by the Soli*City Research Network and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School. If you would like to be involved, please contact Nick Dreher, ndreher@torontomu.ca.

Sanctuary and Resistance in 2025 Working Group Concept Note:

The new U.S. administration has swiftly taken steps to drastically reshape immigration policy by banning asylum, enforcing mass deportations, and challenging fundamental constitutional rights, such as birthright citizenship. These radical changes are redefining the stance, role, and purpose of the U.S. sanctuary movement. 

Traditionally, sanctuary cities have resisted anti-immigrant national policies by limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement authorities through local laws and ordinances. Today, however, the concept of sanctuary is under attack. 

In this shifting context, municipal leaders, community organizations, academics, and policy experts must respond to rapidly moving immigration policy actions and assess the shifts in urban sanctuary to adapt and explore how to better protect their communities.

The purpose of this working group is to bring together a community of scholars and practitioners for a practice oriented engagement that aims to discuss sanctuary and its transformation under the shifting immigration policy environment. The Working Group will have a twofold mission:

1. A practical one, to provide a space for sharing information, expertise, connecting municipalities, practitioners and scholars to keep abreast of latest immigration policy actions and the development of immediate responses to the challenges that sanctuary cities are, and will be facing.
2. An intellectual one, to reflect on the ongoing reconfiguration of sanctuary, its meaning and enactment in US cities (and cities more broadly) at a moment when challenges to the notion of sanctuary and the retreat of municipalities from past guarantees under local laws and administrative protections are redefining sanctuary’s meaning and reshaping the role of different actors (local government, civil society) .   

On the basis of this dual mission (and a survey of participants) the Working Group aims to:  

• Provide updates / regular check-in on ongoing developments in the immigration field;
• Focus on developing systems and structures for information sharing and collaboration;
• Develop connections between academics and community-facing organizations; 
• Engage in a constructive analysis that documents, reflects and reacts to changes in sanctuary, both as a concept and a framework for protecting our communities.