Accompaniment, as theologian Roberto Goizueta notes, is “not an abstraction, or a merely ‘spiritual’ reality.” It instead requires a “mutual bodily presence” from all participants who have agreed to work in this partnership.

New: 2024-2025 PRRI Public Fellows Anita Huizar-Hernandez, @elprofebarba.bsky.social, and @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social spoke to @goodfaithmedia.bsky.social about the oral history project they conducted to better understand shifts in Americans' views on immigration www.youtube.com/watch?v=r71r...

Religious liberals have advocated for immigrant rights for decades. Sanctuary churches are an example. I offer a brief history of the sensitive locations memo and argue that Trump is redrawing the boundaries of public religion in America. arcmag.org/mass-deporta...

Honored for the dedicated episode from @99pi.org about my book and open borders. Give it a listen here: 99percentinvisible.org/episode/633-... Special thanks to producer Lasha Madan. @haymarketbooks.org

Heard a fellow journalist wonder aloud this week why lefty religious leaders aren’t associated with politics like the right. I cover protests from all sides, but I am also the only reporter or one of the only reporters at these lefty events — even when they’re big! religionnews.com/2025/06/10/f...

Incredibly excited to share that the special issue on Citizenship and Migration that @migrantherstory.bsky.social and I coedited for the Journal of American and Ethnic History is out: scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaeh/iss.... The introduction we wrote is open access

As I told the Journal Sentinel, any time we’ve seen immigration officers conceal their identities it’s been accompanied by a further degradation of general public trust in law enforcement. This escalation does nothing but sow fear in our communities. www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...

I think the Catholic Church should do this every day in every city

The Border is Everywhere; The Border is the Crisis Join @silkys13.bsky.social, @jwashing.bsky.social, @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social, and Angélica Cházaro as they discuss how our side can fight back against immigration policing and border imperialism. Co-sponsored by @detentionwatchnetwork.org

The first U.S. bishop appointed by Pope Leo XIV—a refugee himself—is mobilizing priests to accompany migrants at immigration court on June 20. (Via Christopher Hale)

2/ @micarosenberg.bsky.social, Perla Trevizo, Gabriel Sandoval, Ronna Risquez, Adrian Gonzalez and I have been reporting on what the government did to these 238 men, beginning with this story today: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

From our spring issue: @elprofebarba.bsky.social and @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social on the sanctuary movement. Sanctuary activists face new challenges under Trump’s second term—but their work has always entailed great personal risk. www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

When asked, I had to share my thoughts on @uwmadison.bsky.social granting an honorary doctorate to the architect of one of this country's most restrictive pieces of immigration legislation. Really a head-scratching move.

Always happy to jump on @wuwmradio.bsky.social to discuss Wisconsin's immigration history, especially when we get to focus on the tradition of sanctuary in our state. Take a listen! www.wuwm.com/government-p...

You *have* to check out @elprofebarba.bsky.social's latest in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Blazing new paths in the study of sanctuary movements!

Here's @detentionwatchnetwork.org and local groups statement on ICE's arrest of Mayor Baraka www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/re...

Collabs w/ @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social are the best! Here’s another one and special thnx to @dissentmag.bsky.social !

Our spring issue, Border Politics, is out today! www.dissentmagazine.org/issue/spring...

So proud of this co-written piece, put together with my compa @elprofebarba.bsky.social, in the latest edition of @dissentmag.bsky.social. We review the history of the sanctuary movement and what it means for faith-based migrant justice movements today.

The @oah.org Annual Conference on American History is just a few days away and we can't wait to see all of our members and friends in Chicago. Check out the lineup of meet-ups, panels, roundtables, and seminars we've got planned for #OAH25!

Check out this new important piece on the history of sanctuary cities by @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social and @elprofebarba.bsky.social: time.com/7264323/sanc...

Thank you for writing this, @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social and @elprofebarba.bsky.social. We need to know about this important history now more than ever.

Jeanette Vizguerra is a mother and pillar in her community. I am deeply concerned about ICE's actions to detain her without any due process, like a deportation order. ICE should ensure Jeanette has legal counsel and immediately release her.

This is terrible. Jeanette is one of the most important leaders of the modern sanctuary movement and we need to understand her potential detention as an attack against the entire immigrant justice movement. Sign this petition in support of Jeannette! secure.afsc.org/a/freejeanette

The history of sanctuary is a history of organizing that has guidance for us now. Grateful to @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social and @elprofebarba.bsky.social for their incredible work.

@elprofebarba.bsky.social and I are in TIME today sharing our thoughts on the history of sanctuary cities, a social movement practice now forty years old. Thanks to @carlygoodman.bsky.social for all of your editing, couldn't have done it without you! time.com/7264323/sanc...

The next time you see me, I'll be handing you one of these: bookmarks for our edited volume on unauthorized European migrations to the United States (forthcoming May 2025) @dbattisti.bsky.social @illinoispress.bsky.social

Hey fans of the IEHS Online Book Series, did you make it to our Fall 2024 event with @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social and Laura Madokoro? If not, catch up by checking out our YouTube page - here's Sergio González talking about his latest book, Strangers No Longer! www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk5k...

🚨Check out this CFP! 🚨 Excited to be co-editing a special issue of The Public Historian with Delia Fernández-Jones and Chantel Rodriguez on Public History in the Latinx Midwest. Proposals due May 31, articles due early next year. Send us your pitch! online.ucpress.edu/tph

Promoted with tenure. Thanks to everyone who helped get me through! Time to play one of Milwaukee's unofficial anthems. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcaA...

Screaming once again that none of this is new. We’ve been using Gitmo to detain migrants for decades. It’s not DJT. It’s the USA and our long history of racist imperialism. I know we r overwhelmed, but pls find a lane & jump in. We have to protect each other, esp those most targeted.

New: PRRI Public Fellows @elprofebarba.bsky.social and @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social consider President Trump’s efforts to dismantle sanctuary cities in order to meet his ultimate goal of mass deportations arcmag.org/let-us-now-p...

My latest for @sojo.net -

For my latest, I talked with @ctulocal1.bsky.social president Stacy Davis Gates and artist and educator Silvia Gonzalez about how Chicago teachers are creating Sanctuary Teams to protect undocumented students and other marginalized youth from Trump's aggression. (Includes organizing resources.)

@elprofebarba.bsky.social and @smgonzalezwi.bsky.social on Sanctuary Cities & the Trump administration: arcmag.org/let-us-now-p...

Really proud of this piece, written with my podcast co-host and buddy Lloyd Barba, on what sanctuary cities can still do to protect undocumented residents. Sanctuary practices, long under attack, remain some of the most effective tools to resist the deportation machine. arcmag.org/let-us-now-p...

I’ve been sharing this podcast with a variety of friends trying to sort out how to hold on to their faith while rallying around vulnerable community members. It’s been such a helpful listen to start understanding how much I didn’t know I didn’t know.

Some of the best reporting on immigration is coming out of Wisconsin. @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social and @maryamjameel.bsky.social continue to provide the most humanizing stories on a topic that is often presented as nothing more than disembodied statistics.

I love that the @usccbofficial.bsky.social just put out a letter. I talked about Cardinal Dolan grinning at Trump and praying over him .. while they all knew this would happen. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

It’s publication day for my sweet book, Box 25: Archival Secrets, Caribbean Workers, and the Panama Canal! It and all UNC books are on sale for 30% off uncpress.org/book/9781469...

I cannot even articulate how absolutely catastrophic it will be if the Trump admin rescinds ICE's sensitive locations policy. The only undocumented immigrants I know who were ordered deported by the Trump admin & successfully fought their cases were people who had the ability to enter sanctuary.

And Trump's war on sanctuary continues. Faith organizers committed to migrant justice are going to have to make some hard decisions as they figure out what tactics will be most effective to protect undocumented neighbors. www.nbcnews.com/investigatio...

Gift link to article: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/s...

One of my absolute favorite parts of our Dairyland reporting has been taking our findings back to the people. Today I drove a few 100 miles and visited about a dozen tienditas and other gathering places in south-central Wisconsin to distribute our guide on what to do if after an injury on a farm.