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The Paradox of Sanctuary: How Punitive Exceptions Converge to Criminalize and Punish Latinos/as

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2024

Enrique Alvear Moreno Open the ORCID record for Enrique Alvear Moreno [Opens in a new window]
Enrique Alvear Moreno*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, United States Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
*
Email: oalvea2@uic.edu
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Abstract

Sanctuary cities define themselves as metropoles that refuse to share information, personnel, and facilities with federal immigration authorities to police immigrants. While research suggests that sanctuary cities contest the criminalization of migration, a growing literature depicts how these urban sanctuaries could, in practice, perpetuate hierarchies and exclusionary politics against noncitizens. Yet, most of these studies conceive of urban sanctuary as local policies designed to challenge federal power and, thus, fail to fully capture how sanctuary policies could actually rely on the criminalization of migration to govern cities’ political problems. Drawing upon 1,900 pages of archival materials and 100 newspaper articles, this article takes the case of Chicago to study how and why the urban sanctuary expands immigrants’ rights while reinforcing policing with punitive implications for Latino “undeserving” noncitizens. As a form of racialized governance, I argue that Chicago’s sanctuary policies activate a set of punitive exceptions that—in response to distinct political urgencies—allow law and immigration enforcement to converge and control Latino undocumented workers, “criminals,” and “gangs.” This study not only challenges the premise that sanctuary cities necessarily resist federal power but also illustrates how they could strengthen the legitimacy of the state and racialized police power.

Keywords

Sanctuary citiespunitive exceptionalismimmigration policingpolicinglaw and society

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Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 49 , Issue 4 , November 2024 , pp. 2466 - 2492
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Bar Foundation

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