A sanctuary campus is any college or university, typically in North America and Western Europe, that adopts policies to protect members of the campus community who are undocumented immigrants. The term is modeled after "sanctuary city", a status that has been adopted by over 30 municipalities. Although there is no official legal definition of sanctuary city, the term generally refers to towns, cities, or counties that welcome undocumented immigrants and decline to cooperate completely with federal detention requests related to undocumented immigrants, often with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Proposed policies on sanctuary campuses include:
- Not allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers onto campus without a warrant.
- The refusal of campus police to enforce immigration law.
- Not sharing student immigration status with ICE.
- Not gathering information on immigration or citizenship status.
- Providing tuition support, including in-state tuition rates at public universities to students with DACA status.
- Providing distance-learning options for deported students to complete their degrees.
- Providing confidential legal support to students with immigration law questions and issues.
- Expanding policies to include medical and other facilities associated with the campus.
- Reducing the deployment of campus police to protests that seek to include undocumented students and workers to avoid intimidation of undocumented activists.
- Ending practices which undermine worker and student worker labor unions.
The American Association of University Professors endorsed the sanctuary campus movement on November 22, 2016, and urged colleges and universities to adopt sanctuary policies.
