Irish vital part of the US ‘sanctuary movement’

As Donald Trump begins his crackdown against refugees and immigrants in the US, Bette Browne looks at the history of a movement trying to maintain American values

THE US sanctuary movement that shields illegal immigrants, many thousands of whom are Irish, could be described at the conscience of America as it battles President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring it to heel.

But Mr Trump is not the first US president to take on the movement. In its previous incarnation, back in the 1980s, some of its leaders were imprisoned when they defied similar efforts by another Republican president, Ronald Reagan.