God's Resistance: Mobilizing Faith to Defend Immigrants

Explores the power of faith to drive resistance to anti-immigration policies in the United States

God’s Resistance chronicles the work of faith-based activists who have mobilized to counter the effects
of mass detention and deportation. Focusing on Southern California, home to a large undocumented
population, the authors examine which strategies have been most effective, as well as the obstacles that faith presents to organizing effectively. In-depth interviews with over forty activists, leaders of
congregations, lay participants, and immigrants allow us to hear at first hand the challenges and
occasional triumphs of this work.

The authors show how faith-based organizations have a distinctive set of advantages to leverage in
social movements that are often overlooked and underappreciated by secular activist organizations, but they also face particular challenges that can hinder their effectiveness. The volume offers insights into how these advantages can be maximized, and how the obstacles can be overcome. The powerful
testimony from asylum seekers and detained immigrants found in these pages, along with the concrete
examples of effective strategies, are indispensable for anyone invested in the fight to recognize the
humanity of one of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.

Brad Christerson is Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, Biola University. He is the (co)author, among other books, of Growing Up in America: The Power of Race in the Lives of Teens.

Alexia Salvatierra is the Academic Dean of the Centro Latino and the Associate Professor of Mission and Global Transformation at Fuller Theological Seminary and co-author of Buried Seeds: Learning from the Vibrant Resiliency of Marginalized Christian Communities.

Robert Chao Romero is Associate Professor in the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of several books, including The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 and Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity.

Nancy Wang Yuen is a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) consultant for Peoplism and author of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism.