SANCTUARY CITY Definition & Meaning

sanctuary city

[ sangk-choo-er-ee sit-ee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a city in which the local government and police protect undocumented immigrants and refugees from deportation by federal authorities:
sanctuary cities where law enforcement cannot question crime suspects about their immigration status.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

First recorded in 1865–70 in the sense “place of immunity from arrest”; the current sense, in 1980–85; possibly related to “Cities of Refuge” named in the Bible in the books of Joshua, Deuteronomy, and Numbers

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

L.A.’s “sanctuary city” law is another issue that divides Park and most of her council colleagues.

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"A lot of people are in fear, so it would be really important for us to come together and show a unified support system that's here in Memphis, that people don't have to leave the city or the state to flee to a sanctuary city or state, that there is a sanctuary within the state of Tennessee," Gore said, adding that she's hoping to provide a glimpse of that during a rally for International Transgender Day of Visibility on Monday.

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Clearly, Democrats are no longer comfortable with the vague but well-known term “sanctuary city;” once claimed with pride, the label was strenuously avoided on Wednesday.

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Surely Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the head of the powerful House Oversight Committee, was hoping to come away with a scalp of his own from Wednesday’s “Hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors.”

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After watching TikTok videos of the incident, Hernandez introduced a City Council motion asking the city attorney to outline “clear guidance and understanding about their responsibilities under the city’s sanctuary city ordinance.”

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