Sanctuary Stories is a collection of eighteen short stories and five essays focusing on the lives of Central Americans - people who might be washing dishes in our favorite restaurants, harvesting our crops, cleaning our houses, and taking care of our children. In this book, Michael Smith gives these refugees names, gives them faces, and without a hint of condescension, gives them dignity. The stories range from the depiction of the plight of Central Americans in their home countries to their flight to the United States and the life they experience in this country. Sanctuary Stories adds a necessary and compassionate dimension to the current national debate about the rights of aliens.