States offer refuge in multiple ways, one of which is in the form of ‘sanctuary’. As the term is used colloquially, ‘sanctuary’ refers to a set of policies or actions that offer a range of forms of protection to people whose immigration status is precarious in some way. In particular, sanctuary is a type of refuge offered not to refugees, who are typically legally present in a state, but rather to those who may have fallen afoul of a state’s immigration rules. These individuals can include temporary labour migrants, whose short-term work visas have expired, refugee claimants, failed asylum-seekers and others who may be under deportation orders, members of mixed-status families (in particular where undocumented parents have citizen children), as well as stateless individuals. Usually, sanctuary is provided to individuals by sub-state authorities, to protect individuals who – absent sanctuary – would struggle to access a variety of services legally or safely, some of which may be essential to protecting their human rights. Many policies are justified as sanctuary policies, and it is my goal in this chapter to argue that the vast majority of them can be defended in current democratic states.