Sanctuary Cities vs. Cities of Refuge

The term “sanctuary cities” is well-known by now given the rather extreme problem at our southern border. On the other hand, the term “cities of refuge” is from the Bible and is probably unfamiliar to most people.

Sanctuary cities have been at least somewhat in vogue since the 1980s, but they became much more well-known during Donald Trump’s presidency. Liberal media outlets decried Trump’s deportations of undocumented immigrants, even though President Obama had deported more than Trump. They also railed against his southern border protections, particularly “the wall,” as discriminatory and unnecessary even though he was enforcing existing laws. During the first two+ years of Joe Biden’s presidency, the U.S. essentially had an open border. However, in early October of 2023, just three months ago, Biden quietly resumed the building of the border wall. If you’re not aware of this, it’s because many liberal media outlets either didn’t report it at all or paid little attention to it.  Here’s a number that explains the border-wall resumption: in 2023, there were 3.2 million illegal immigrants into the U.S. (a new annual record), which is more than in all four of Trump’s years combined. 

In early August of 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began bussing illegal immigrants to other parts of the U.S. as Texas had become overwhelmed by the growing flood of illegals. Democratic-led cities and the liberal media were outraged then, and that outrage continues. Late last month, Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson lashed out at Abbott, saying in part, “The governor of Texas needs to take a look in the mirror, with the chaos he’s causing for the people of this country. He is attacking our country!” The hypocrisy is overwhelming: Chicago is a sanctuary city, which means its laws tend to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation or prosecution, despite federal immigration law. In other words, such cities are blatantly illegal in that regard. (Click on this link to see a nation-wide map of sanctuary cities, counties, and states: https://cis.org/Full-Screen-Map-Sanctuary-Cities) Given Chicago’s sanctuary city status, Mayor Johnson should welcome a few thousand undocumented immigrants. However, even though many on the left like to embrace “compassionate” policies, in reality, they often adopt NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) attitudes. In other words, just keep all of those undocumented immigrants down south. This bussing (or in some cases flying) to cities in the northeast, in particular, has been repeated many times, always responded to with the same hypocritical outrage. 

A couple of years ago as I thought about our southern border crisis, cities of refuge in ancient Israel came to mind. In Numbers 35:6-28 (in the Bible), the Lord told His people (before they entered the land of Canaan) that six cities were to be designated cities of refuge, three on either side of the Jordan River. To summarize: A man (or woman) who killed someone accidentally (verse 15) could flee to one of these cities until his case was tried in court. If it was determined that it was indeed accidental, then the accused could stay in that city of refuge until the death of the current high priest, at which time he could return to his own property. If he left the city before then and the “avenger of blood” (probably a family member of the dead person) found him, the avenger could kill the accused without being guilty of murder. If a man murdered someone, however, he could not live in a city of refuge, and the avenger of blood was to kill him.

I thought of cities of refuge again very recently when I read about some churches who had declared themselves to be supporters of sanctuary cities; in fact, in some cases they even declared themselves “sanctuaries” in the ancient sense of the word. They used the ancient cities of refuge in Israel as at least part of their justification. However, the fundamental difference between the two should be obvious: as stated before, sanctuary cities (as well as counties and states) are blatantly illegal in relation to federal law. However, cities of refuge in Old Testament Israel were legal; in fact, they were required in Israel’s theocracy in order to protect anyone who accidentally killed someone. Sanctuary cities are designed to illegally protect undocumented immigrants. Furthermore, when immigrants are bussed or flown into so-called sanctuary cities, the leaders of those cities show that they are less than enthusiastic about sharing the Texas burden by receiving them. Neither in terms of legality nor the practicalities of providing for undocumented immigrants do sanctuary cities “work” in the real world, at least not with so many of our hypocritical politicians.

How should we treat undocumented immigrants? When I was an ESL (college) teacher, I had an inkling now and then that a student might be undocumented because they didn’t have a social security number yet. However, my college could, and did, enroll such students anyway. I never thought about “reporting” these students to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and even if I had, I wouldn’t have done it. On the other hand, if I had ever been asked by a governmental authority about a given student, I would not have lied, either. The same is true now; if I know someone who is undocumented, I won’t report them, but I won’t lie for them, either. I will help them in practical ways if I can, and I might even be a friend to them! 

My wife and I know a man (from Mexico) and his wife (an American). He is an excellent handyman, and while they lived in our city, we hired him to do a good amount of work on my parents-in-law’s house. They no longer live here; it turned out he was here illegally and was “found out.” He now lives in Mexico, and his wife lives in the U.S. with their daughter a few miles across the border. The day may come when he can again live, legally, in the U.S. For now, thankfully, they have stayed together; his daughter and wife can cross the border even though he can’t. 

My hope and prayer is that regardless of our politics, we can be compassionate and helpful to those we encounter in our country, even if we suspect they may be here illegally. In that way, we can be a “sanctuary” for them in ways that our politicians can’t, or won’t. And perhaps they will come to faith in Jesus Christ, who will then be their true refuge.