Sanctuary

Although Sanctuary is a dystopian novel set in a fictionalized, futuristic version of the 2030s United States, it is deeply rooted in recent debates about US immigration and border control policy as well as ongoing human rights issues. While running for president before being elected in 2016, Donald Trump campaigned heavily to build an expensive, fortified wall along the US border with Mexico to keep out unauthorized immigrants. The US already had barriers in place along parts of its borders, but Trump campaigned for building a bigger, stronger, and longer wall. This idea received enthusiastic support from some segments of the population, but others found the idea inhumane and/or a waste of money. In Sanctuary, the president is not named but at times evokes the rhetoric Trump used to describe unauthorized immigrants (referring to them as a “threat,” an “infestation,” or an “invasion” that the US must be “protected” against). Trump is not the first or only person to use this sort of rhetoric; for decades, politicians and civilians in the US have debated the impact of undocumented immigrants on jobs, resources, and land. They have also debated undocumented immigrants’ potential connection to crime and violence in the US.

Rhetoric such as that of Sanctuary’s president criminalizes undocumented immigrants and makes it seem that they are inherently dangerous, ignoring the reality that crime and violence have always existed in the US and elsewhere in the world. Ironically, many undocumented immigrants are fleeing crime and violence, not bringing it with them to the US. This view ironically ignores the history of the United States and the fact that it was born out of colonization and genocide, in that Europeans colonized a continent where Indigenous peoples were already living, exterminating some while subjecting others to new laws and forcing them onto designated reservations. This troubled history broaches many complex questions. Many people advocate for open borders or for reformed immigration policy that does not criminalize undocumented immigrants.

The US does have a process through which people can immigrate legally, and this fact is often used as justification for the criminalized treatment of unauthorized immigrants. The legal immigration process is complicated and time-consuming, without a guarantee that it will “work” for whole families or even all individuals. When fleeing war-torn areas, it might not always be possible to spend months or years filling out paperwork and taking tests.

The danger and risk involved in migration to a new location is a notable element in Sanctuary. The novel imagines a dystopian future, with some realistic elements and some invented elements. For example, the novel includes the government organization Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is the current name for the governmental entity responsible for identifying and detaining or deporting unauthorized immigrants. The novel, however, also includes a second agency, the Deportation Force (DF), which includes several of the same responsibilities as ICE but is much larger and represents stronger, more aggressive immigration policy; this organization hires high school students and allows them to use guns to fulfill the DF’s objectives.