The term “sanctuary” most recently refers to local policies that limit when and if local law enforcement communicates with, or submits to, (often unconstitutional) requests from federal immigration agents. But in a country where over-policing results in 1 in 3 people being arrested at least once by the age of 23, during a time when evolving technology places fingerprint scanners in the palm of every law enforcement officers’ hand, and as we anticipate the growth in federal agents active in our cities, sanctuary in practice, and as a movement, must evolve.

Sanctuary as a concept must evolve and be expanded. It can be a call that unites broad swaths of institutions and civil society if it is based in the belief that collective protection should extend to all communities facing criminalization and persecution and defend against all the agencies that threaten us.