How We Take Care of Our Own
Tips on Becoming a Sanctuary City
I recently shared with you how my town became a sanctuary city in We Take Care of Our Own. Following this victory, I sent an email to a few friends exclaiming my pride in my town’s leadership and residents. Days later, my inbox reminded me of a Faberge shampoo commercial. I was surprised by the number of people asking me for ideas about how to become a sanctuary city. This resolution was not a heavy lift for my town. Many of you will face serious opposition from some or all of your leaders, police, and/or neighbors. Here are some of my thoughts.
Do not reinvent the wheel. Local governments have done this work. Collect this information and share it with your neighbors and friends far and wide. Let’s build on this momentum by developing and publicizing a clearinghouse to help leaders and activists quickly identify relevant documents, supporting arguments, and legal experts. We can’t keep calling the same mayors. We need them to run our towns and cities.
Learn how to draft and pass policy in your town or city. Make sure that you know the policy-making process in your community. Who are the key actors? Who do you need to get on board first to move this issue forward? Where do they stand on these issues? How do you move this forward even when there’s opposition in the leadership? I know. Where’s School House Rock when you need it? If only we had state and local versions to educate us. Anyone interested in making them? Of course, know what laws, policies, and guidelines already exist. Understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Understand the entire reporting structure. Every state and town is different. Figure out who makes law enforcement decisions and guidelines. To whom do the police report? Who holds an elected position? For officials seeking reelection, tell them that you will vote based on how they address this issue.
Carefully construct your arguments and shape the narrative. This is about protecting the immigrants who live and work in our communities. Period. I don’t want to limit this by saying “undocumented” because we all know that these raids encourage racial profiling and loads of brown people will be stopped, questioned, and harassed. It is not about creating anarchy, “randomly” deciding which laws to enforce, protecting murderers and rapists, or whatever Breitbart and its like claim. (Black people know too well what happens when law enforcement roams the streets en masse looking for mythical brown rapists and murderers.) Unjust laws should not be enforced — just ask the Lovings. When it comes to deportations and ripping apart families, we can’t sit around and wait for the courts to catch up with Trump. Sanctuary cities provide some interim protections.
Identify your allies. Of course, our friends and our allies on an issue may be two different things. It’s great to start with groups that share your vision on most things first (your friends). However, if you have considerable opposition, you may want to reach out to see if “unlikely” allies can help you with a heavy lift. For example, many groups care about immigration issues and how immigrants are treated — churches, businesses (such as restaurants, farms, tech, general contractors, etc.), progressive groups, atheists, city council members, state legislators, etc. This may not be your coalition to save Planned Parenthood funding, but they may be able to help you with becoming a sanctuary city.
Show your power. Make it difficult for your opposition to ignore you. Challenge their dissent with facts, powerful stories, and good old fashioned shoe leather. Start a letter writing, email, and telephone campaign to your leadership and local paper. Give your allies the key points to raise. Dissect your opposition’s objections and tell everyone why they’re wrong. March and rally again and again. Make sure everyone sees that you’re not going away. Show your numbers. (If you’ve got it, flaunt it.) Get the media to cover why sanctuary city status is needed in your town or city. When the media arrives to cover your efforts, give them your brief and bulleted talking points (main arguments). Make sure they see the faces of vulnerable people by sharing personal stories (only if people are comfortable doing so).
Stand your ground. Some mayors have argued that their towns do not need to become sanctuary cities because the protective law already exists. Read the laws. Many are not as clear as some believe. The law is written, interpreted, and enforced by people and can differ dramatically depending on who you are. (Sentencing disparities are just one example of this.) In my state, police chiefs have enforced the governing Attorney General guidelines differently. Also, opponents are usually speaking from a position of power and privilege. They know that they will not be subject to random ICE searches. There’s great power in telling people that you’re going to strive to provide them with sanctuary. Plus, if it really was so innocuous, your mayor would have done it by now just to get the good publicity.
