Political Process And Frame Building Of The Sanctuary Movement In United States

The core point of view expressed in this paper is that macro-social changes,circular interaction among actors and mobilization strategies within the organization jointly affect the rise,development or decline of the sanctuary movement.In the 1980s,American social activists launched a sanctuary campaign aimed at providing all kinds of assistance to Central American refugees,while putting pressure on the United States authorities to stop intervening in the Central American civil war and to stop expelling Central American refugees fleeing violence.After sustained humanitarian efforts and political struggle,the movement has achieved great success after the 1990 s.In 2007,social activists launched a new sanctuary campaign aimed at providing sanctuary to undocumented migrants who may be deported,but the effectiveness of the campaign was called into question because it was difficult to adapt to changes in the social environment at that time.With the development of the movement,the way of sanctuary practice is constantly changing.In the context of the 1980 s,the term "sanctuary" refers to the humanitarian work done by sanctuary organizations out of sympathy for Central American refugees.Since the 21 st century,this meaning has evolved into the help of sanctuary activists to undocumented migrants and the uncooperative policy of local governments on immigration issues.The sense of mission given by religious concepts and the provision of places of refuge are not the hallmarks of all sanctuary practices,but also include efforts to establish or expand sanctuary networks in sheltered cities.Macro-social change is the catalyst for the development of the sanctuary movement.Because of the transnational nature of the sanctuary movement,external actors-the foreign and immigration policy considerations of the United States government-play a direct role in the emergence and development of the sanctuary movement.The changing social environment includes the number of refugees and illegal immigrants,changes in the family structure of illegal immigrants,and differences in values or ideology,religion and other differences from the people,which play an indirect role in promoting the sanctuary movement.Resource mobilization theory emphasizes the strategies adopted by organizations in collective action,and its application in this paper is reflected in the close cooperation among social relief,network propaganda and sanctuary organizations.The promotion or restriction of the political opportunity structure to the sanctuary movement depends on the response of "dominant power"(federal government,immigration law enforcement agencies).The means of mobilization include both unconventional political channels(such as meetings,demonstrations,provision of shelter,etc.).There are also institutionalized conventional political channels(such as lobbying,legal proceedings,etc.).To be sure,the development and decline of the sanctuary movement depends on the cycle of mutual construction between the sanctuary actors and the government.Besides,for the deficiency of the analysis framework of political process theory in the analysis of specific social movements,the case of the sanctuary movement in this paper can be used as a supplement to deal with the relationship between theory and case.The frame building in the sanctuary movement is mainly about the spread of immigrant narration and whether the presupposition of discourse symbols resonates with the audience.The three dimensions of the framework include enabling the audience to provide strong testimony about brutal persecution in Central America,selectively constructing a positive narrative framework(such as "victim","trauma","family","model",etc.),and humanitarian motives and beliefs that promote sanctuary practice.Although the New Sanctuary Movement tries to avoid the stereotype of the public in the narrative content,it is still exclusive in the choice of identity due to the influence of historical heritage and the change of social environment,and the final effect is greatly reduced.In terms of the nature of the movement,the sanctuary movement in the 1980 s was a response to a serious border crisis,and activists succeeded by using a series of institutionalized means.While the new sanctuary movement is fundamentally a loosely organized initiative,the "sports legacy" left by the past no longer prevails now,and the same approach by campaigners may lead to more nervousness.it is not conducive to winning support for undocumented immigrants facing deportation.Although the new sanctuary movement provides assistance to undocumented immigrants and has a great change in the strategy of building a framework,the decentralized,political,circular and mutual structure of the movement can restrain the ability of the federal government to reform immigration policy to a certain extent.