The basic Christian principles that have theologically grounded the religious system in the United States and the political rationale that has allowed for current measures taken against immigrants inform Grace Yukich's book, One Family under God: Immigration Politics and Progressive Religion in America, and make it a good read and useful addition to the literature on immigration, religion, and politics. In doing so, Yukich's book adds to the immigrant-rights discussions by chronicling undocumented immigrants' life in the United States primarily through their encounters with the New Sanctuary Movement (NSM). Yukich explains that the sanctuary process embraces religious beliefs that promote brother- and sisterhood, compassion, justice, and the sanctity of the family, which can in turn inspire movements for political change (7). Her book links the values just noted with social change vis-à-vis undocumented immigrants in a cohesive, useful, and timely manner.
Despite the book's title, Yukich primarily deals with the New Sanctuary Movement (NSM). The NSM, in the main, focuses on providing religious institution sanctuary for immigrant families facing deportation. The NSM, which also advocates for comprehensive immigration reform, participates in the establishment of these religious sanctuaries as places founded upon moral, political, and religious values. Having emerged out of cultural, social, political and religious forces that have rallied around the immigrant-rights struggles, the NSM articulates the demands of activists that comprise the immigration-rights movement.
One Family under God relates how the NSM evolved out of and gleaned lessons from previous movements, like the 1980s Sanctuary Movement, to inspire political strategies in defining and carrying out their objectives (74-82). It contributes soundly to our understanding of the religious and political dimensions of the ongoing struggle for immigrant rights. Much can be learned from Yukich's descriptions of NSM's ability to navigate the complexities of the political landscape in collaboration with supporters, such as Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) and La Familia Latina Unida (Latina Families and Women United, or LFLU).
Yukich could have spent more time discussing how NSM activists argue that sanctuary efforts do not violate the law, despite the fact that they are giving safe haven to individuals sought by law enforcement agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). NSM supporters and activists believe that since sanctuary is offered publicly, and there is no effort to hide the immigrants' whereabouts, it is thereby legal. That said, there are ramifications to this perception of legality that should be viewed with greater circumspection and coupled with a deeper degree of analysis.
One Family under God does demonstrate, however, that the spiritually-inspired message of opposition expressed by the NSM is effective for mobilizing activists and targeting political groups with effective communication, and it highlights the commitment of religiously-driven actors to push for humane laws so crucial to the NSM. Yukich's examination of NSM's intertwining of family stability and immigration status is especially useful. It helps explain the opportunities of, and the constraints on, the NSM and how the movement has yielded and responded to the challenge of immigration politics and immigrant rights. Her focus on the tragedy of the breakup of families strongly resonates with mainstream United States moral and religious-based populations. Yukich does say that NSM and its choice to give sanctuary to immigrant families, rather than all immigrants, becomes clearer when recognizing New Sanctuary's religious targets (119). And overall, Yukich's research illustrates how the NSM responds to immigrant rights in a way that stretches well beyond assumptions of outward religious responsibilities into areas of inner political conviction and cultural awareness.
Yet Yukich maintains that NSM's focus on the family is at least somewhat misguided. “[I]f New Sanctuary had included single people and members of undocumented families as well as mixed-status families as sanctuary recipients, if could have represented a broader swath of the undocumented population for whom it claimed to advocate” (118). Pursuant to this point, notes Yukich, is that it is costly to house and take care of people facing deportation, so who should have priority under these conditions?
The internationalization of sanctuary movements and strategies begs for further analysis. For example, the subheading “An Institutional Disconnect: The Problem with Religious Globalism,” (157) focuses on embracing diversity across ethnic and religious backgrounds. Currently, border-crossing points are some of the most hotly contested areas in the world. This international situation has in turn led to a growth of social movements and individual sympathies to challenge anti-immigrant policies and combat rising anti-immigration sentiment through movements such as the NSM. Yukich could have spent some time dealing with thes areas of immigrant rights, anti-immigration sentiments, and sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. Sanctuary and immigrant rights are international phenomena and broader perspective offers valuable insights into and comparisons with the United States NSM. Canada and France, in particular, have organized sanctuary immigrant-rights movements. Randy Lippert's analysis of the Canadian sanctuary movement (Sanctuary, Sovereignty, Sacrifice: Canadian Sanctuary Incidents, Power, and Law [Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005) criticizes American authors on the sanctuary movements (SM) for omitting mention of sanctuary movements in countries like Great Britain, France, and Germany.
This does not detract from the existence, methodology, and importance of Yukich's study of the NSM. One Family under God is persuasive, whether dealing with the immigration issue in broad strokes or with individual testimonials. Yukich's evidentiary analyses founded on narratives and field studies form a useful technique to detail the political and cultural activism that comprises the NSM, and it can be useful as a referent for other studies. For example, Chapter 5 “The Art of Balance” is especially good in linking religion and politics to the sanctuary movement. Her use of interviews with NSM activists and potential recruits works well in demarcating the overall area of conflict between religion and politics. The integration of religion and politics in accounts of movements like the NSM permits scholarly inquiry into these areas to become wider in scope and further able to address the diversity of political and social movements. Yukich captures this importance in this timely book.
