Voices... [flyer of the early Sanctuary movement]

[New York]: np, [1986]. Offset. 11 x 8 1/2 in. Very good, with a holograph inscriptions on verso in an unknown hand. Item #10540

Flyer protesting the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, which introduced criminal penalties for employers who hired undocumented immigrants, further cementing “illegal aliens” as a permanent bogey in American right wing consciousness. 

The flyer offers a detournement of “The New Colossus,” the sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty welcoming immigrants into the U.S. It emphasizes the conditional nature of the welcome: “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, ^ coast-guard inspected, to me .... but only if documented proof of extreme persecution,” in a way not unlike the actual proposed changes to the poem presented by the first Trump administration in 2019.  

Further, the flyer promotes the support of the Sanctuary movement in the 1980s, wherein churches and institutions opened their doors to undocumented immigrants from warzones in Central America, offering shelter, food, protection, and legal aid, often in defiance of the law. The movement integrated mutual aid with a sharp critique of the U.S. Foreign Policy held to be responsible for the wars, either in full or in part.

A rare flyer for the early Sanctuary movement. No holdings listed in OCLC as of May 2026.

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