“Sanctuary” as a Floating Signifier; US Churches, Public Schools, and the Movement to Protect Undocumented Peoples

This article compares the self-declared “sanctuary” identities of US churches and US public schools within the larger sanctuary movement to protect undocumented people. Through analysis of church as well as public school sanctuary resolutions from across the country, and interviews with 46 church, organization, and school leaders from 15 US cities across the two coasts and Midwest, we examine the degree to which sanctuary US public schools diverge from sanctuary churches with respect to their definitions of and identifications with sanctuary. We examine sanctuary-identification as a discursive practice, and find that the identity has largely operated as a “floating signifier” across the movement. We argue that a shared model of sanctuary as a human right bridges the gap between churches and schools, mounting a strong response to a hegemonic project that criminalizes the sanctuary concept.