Challenging federal exclusion: Immigrant safety, health, and healthcare access in sanctuary cities

As the United States (U.S.) continues to prioritize federal immigration enforcement, subnational localities increasingly enact their own immigration policies. Cities limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement are commonly referred to as sanctuary cities, which aim to improve immigrant safety and wellbeing. Yet, little is known about how these cities accomplish this beyond immigration enforcement non-cooperation. We draw from qualitative interviews with 54 organizational workers in Seattle, Washington and Boston, Massachusetts. Our findings illuminate lingering challenges immigrants face within sanctuary cities and demonstrate how organizational workers mitigate the shortcomings of sanctuary policies to addressing broad definitions of safety and health by enacting their own sanctuary practices. •Sanctuary cities aim to increase immigrant safety and wellbeing.•Sanctuary policies focus on police's non-cooperation with immigration enforcement.•Immigrant legality shapes institutional experiences despite sanctuary policies.•Organizational workers hold a broader definition of immigrant safety and wellbeing.•Workers develop sanctuary practices alongside policies to mitigate limits of policy.