Rev. Alexia Salvatierra: a church leader of the new sanctuary movement talks about immigrant rights and how sanctuary is set to take off in 50 more cities nationwide.(Q & A)(Interview)

How does sanctuary actually work? Networks of congregations and interfaith coalitions contact us. Local councils of churches or interfaith coalitions call us, and we help them through the steps; they find an appropriate family, provide legal support. And we can help with references, but they have to make it happen. We're also willing to send somebody [to the church]. But they have to be ready to take care of the family, plan how they will advocate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), how to raise the funds to support the family and how to emotionally support the family, provide tutoring for the kids, provide education for their congregations.

We were surprised by the number of cities that are interested. But it's hard to get from the initial interest to actually doing sanctuary. There are so many obstacles and barriers. The laws are really draconian, much worse than they used to be. The courage it takes for someone to go public is huge. We try to help them go through the spiritual process to see whether this is right for them.

One of our sanctuary cases is a leader in his community, owns his own business. He's had a deportation order for years, but he had it quietly ... so he said to us, "You don't know what it's like to live every day waiting for the knock at the door. I decided to stop running and turn around and fight."

What's been the reaction to the new sanctuary movement, and what impact do you hope to have? We've had a thousand calls, 400 stories written or shown; we feel like that really has an impact. There has been second-level media too--CNN did a pro-and-con pundits talking about us. It's become part of the public discourse, which was what we wanted, because then the moral questions around immigration and the breaking up of families come out.

Our real goal has been to make visible those who are not visible. We awaken the moral imagination of the country and reveal the suffering. It's hard to measure national impact. When we launched our last family in Long Beach, Fox News was doing this big special on ICE, traveling with ICE on the raids. But they decided it would be a fun wrinkle to throw in a thing about sanctuary. So the reporter talked to me for a little bit, and then he talked to the priest of the congregation, and then he talked to the husband of the woman in sanctuary, and the woman herself. By the time he was done, he had been there over an hour. He was saying to me, "Does this happen a lot, does this really happen to people?" He could see the injustice, and he was upset about it. There's nothing like the stories of real people to change people's hearts and minds. And that's what we're about.

How does this movement compare to the 1980s sanctuary movement? I was part of that. In fact, it was a very important part of my life as a young person. I watched my pastor go to jail. It made a big impression on me.

They were really a true example of the biblical concept of sanctuary. It was a divine law to the ancient people of Israel. If somebody had done something that could be viewed as a crime, but the reaction to the crime was an unjust reaction, they could run to the city of refuge and could be protected until they could get a fair ...