The sanctuary phenomenon is on the rise around the globe, taking on different characteristics in distinct political contexts. Varied forms emerge as different subnational actors and institutions react to restrictive migration policies. In the United States, sanctuary policies display a wide range of characteristics influenced by national migration politics and laws, but more so by local circumstances, actors, and institutions. Cases of sanctuary develop in highly context-specific political negotiations concerning migration regulation. Applying a relational state-theory perspective (e.g. Jessop, B., State power: A strategic-relational approach. Polity, 2007) to the sanctuary phenomenon enables us to analyse it as a bundle of different socio-spatial strategies within the power relation of the nation-state. This chapter outlines the properties and prerequisites of these strategies as well as their effects and functions within the struggle for sanctuary and migrants’ rights. This also illustrates the complex relation between sanctuary and the nation-state.