Sanctuary (2020) is a dystopian young adult novel by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher. Set in the United States in 2032, Sanctuary follows the journey of a teenage girl, Vali, who is an undocumented immigrant. After her father is deported and murdered and her mother is arrested, Vali must grow up quickly and shepherd her younger brother Ernie to the sanctuary state of California, which has seceded from the US and welcomes undocumented immigrants and refugees. Sanctuary explores the human cost of xenophobia, the power of familial bonds, and the importance of resilience, hope, faith, and teamwork.

This guide refers to the paperback edition published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 2021.

Content Warning: Sanctuary and this guide refer to xenophobia, rape, murder, enslavement, other violence, and challenges faced by immigrants.

Plot Summary

In 2032, 16-year-old Vali, who is an undocumented immigrant girl living with her mami and eight-year-old brother Ernie in Vermont, watches a live feed from an independent news source on the dark web using her phone. The US government has enacted new censorship laws, and the only news source that people can watch without the dark web is the National News, which is propaganda and never says anything negative about the government. The National News also does not report how climate change has taken a significant toll, or that the US is in its worst economic downfall in history. A drought and water rations make daily life challenging. The president is on his third term and can address the entire nation at once in hologram form. Every citizen is implanted with ID chips which can be scanned to indicate their name and citizenship status. Vali and Mami have counterfeit chips, while Ernie (who was born in the US) has a real one.

On the live feed, a teenage girl in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt miraculously scales the Great American Wall between Mexico and the US in an attempt to cross into California, but she is killed by a land mine. Protests erupt on both sides of the border and US helicopters shoot people on both sides. Vali worries about her Tia Luna, who lives in California. Her phone has been cut off, and they can’t reach her. All cell phone and internet access then cuts out for Vali, Mami, and Ernie.

Vali and Mami are originally from Colombia. They walked with Papi to California when Vali was four (before Ernie was born), and they lived there near Tia Luna. Papi was deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), then murdered. Immigration raids increased in California, so Mami moved Vali and Ernie to Vermont, where she now works on a farm. Mami’s chip also malfunctioned once, but instead of deporting her, the officer raped her and did not arrest her. Vali worries her own chip will also fail one day, but it never has so far.

On the bus ride to school the next morning, Vali sits by her best friend Kenna, whose parents are undocumented immigrants too. Kenna is the only person outside the family who knows Vali is an undocumented immigrant. Vali wants to discuss what she saw on the livestream with Kenna, but she cannot because others are around. Agents of the new Deportation Force (DF) stop the bus and scan everyone, then arrest a man with a fake chip. At school, they are scanned again, then the president addresses everyone via hologram to say that the DF is a new agency meant to arrest and detain every undocumented immigrant. Also, no one is allowed to travel to California anymore, a new national curfew is in effect, and a system upgrade for ID chips will soon take place so that the DF can apprehend those with fake chips.

After school, Vali goes to meet Ernie at his soccer practice. The DF has captured the coach and some shopkeepers that Vali and Kenna knew. At home, Mami reports that the DF raided her work, but she ran before they saw her. For days, Mami, Vali, and Ernie hide in their apartment trying to determine a safe escape plan. Kenna tells Vali by phone that the DF also took a teacher and several janitors. Then Kenna’s phone number stops working, suggesting her family may have been taken. Mami calls everyone she trusts and the only person offering hope is Sister Lottie, who offers sanctuary to undocumented immigrants at the church where she works in New York.

California secedes and offers sanctuary to undocumented immigrants and refugees. Mami, Vali, and Ernie pack limited items and cash and get on a bus to New York, planning to go to California once they have enough money. The DF stops the bus and arrests Mami when her chip does not work. Vali and Ernie run; Mami has instructed them to keep going if she is captured. To minimize human contact, they walk the rest of the way to New York City, which takes 10 days. Vali allows Ernie to believe they can see Mami again in New York to keep him walking.

Sister Lottie provides refuge to immigrants at her church and welcomes Vali and Ernie. They can eat and sleep in the church but must leave during the days to avoid detection by others. Vali overhears women in a park discussing coyote transport, in which a driver takes people across borders secretly. The women say it costs $10,000 for two people; it is very dangerous. When DF agents almost catch Vali and Ernie, Vali decides to take a chance on a coyote. Sister Lottie pays for their coyote passage to California and drops them at their truck, already full of various other immigrants.

They drive for a long time, then a DF agent stops the truck to search it. The driver shoots the DF officer, then abandons the group without driving them to the halfway point where they were meant to switch to a second driver. Vali, Ernie, Rosa, her four-year-old son, Tomas, baby Guadalupe, Volcanoman, and Malakas walk the rest of the way to the second driver’s house. Vali and Malakas cut out their counterfeit chips because they have started to glow blue, suggesting the system upgrade has occurred. The second driver tries to allow a DF officer to rape Rosa for cash. Volcanoman kills the DF officer, and the group runs, but Tomas dies when he cannot escape the quicksand-like marsh nearby. Drones take Rosa, Tomas’s body, and Guadalupe.

Vali, Ernie, Volcanoman, and Malakas jump onto a moving cargo train that takes them closer to California. Malakas and Vali develop the start of a romance. Nearing California, they see a large DF camp where people are kept in cages, chained together, and beaten. Through binoculars, Vali thinks she sees Mami, but she cannot be sure. DF starts trailing them, so they all jump off the train. Vali, Ernie, and Malakas hide, but DF captures Volcanoman, who did not have any chip. Vali decides it is too dangerous to break into the DF camp and check if Mami is there. They continue walking toward California. Ernie collapses from dehydration and they rest for a few days, drinking cactus juice and some water Malakas finds.

A DF agent on a moped stops near them but does not see them. Vali knocks him unconscious with a rock. They steal his moped, which reveals the location of land mines nearby. At a DF checkpoint, the teenage agent lets them go. Drones start shooting at them near the Colorado River, but they jump in and swim across successfully.

Vali and Ernie are taken in by their Tia Luna, and Malakas goes to a group home for young refugees. Vali and Malakas keep in touch. Vali and Ernie start school, and Vali attends activist meetings for those who want to help undocumented immigrants in the US. Vali does not feel content with Mami still in trouble, but she knows her parents would want her and Ernie to be in sanctuary.