The Rev. Wiley Drake is pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif. He has been critical of groups that support illegal immigrants.

Rabbi Laurie Coskey is based in San Diego, Calif., and is executive director of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. Coskey is also a member of the steering committee of the New Sanctuary Movement.

James Vernon is a history professor at the University of California-Berkeley and author of Hunger: A Modern History. He teaches courses on food and hunger.

Peter Rosset is a food rights activist, agroecologist and rural development specialist. He is based in Oaxaca, Mexico, as a researcher at the Centro de Estudios Para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano (Center of Studies for Rural Change in Mexico) and co-coordinator of the Land Research Action Network. He is also global alternatives associate of the Center […]

Eric Holt-Gimenez is executive director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First), which works to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger. It’s based in Oakland, Calif.

He is professor emeritus of religious studies at Santa Clara University in California and author of Broken Bread and Broken Bodies: The Lord’s Supper and World Hunger.

The Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice-California. She has been active in the New Sanctuary Movement and can discuss its organization on the national and local level.

Daniel Okada is an assistant professor of criminal justice at California State University Sacramento. He is co-chair of the Justice Studies Association’s 2009 conference, which focused partly on the New Sanctuary Movement and other contributions of religious congregations to the plight of illegal aliens.

Gregory Freeland is an associate professor of political science at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and director of its Center for Equality and Justice. He is familiar with the organization, goals and spread of the New Sanctuary Movement.