Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comments from SanctuaryCities.com
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – El Pasoans driving on either side of I-10 near Cotton Street, may notice two billboards describing New York City and San Francisco as sanctuary cities that welcome migrants.
“So, these billboards we’re seeing it as a form of misinformation. It’s really just disingenuous in nature because, on one hand, it’s really encouraging migrants to come to San Francisco, but it’s not actually having any resources to connect folks to that,” said Kevn Ortiz, co-president of the San Francisco LatinX Democratic Club.
Sanctuarycities.com is a mysterious website responsible for putting up the billboards. The website’s homepage suggests that sanctuary cities offer “ample” social services and health care and that migrants can have the ability to “live, work, and enjoy life with a lower risk of deportation.”
“It’s also very misleading in the sense that sanctuary cities are going to provide those resources in the get-go, when the sanctuary ordinance only really protects government employees from working with federal agencies to turn people over if they’re undocumented because of documentation status,” said Ortiz.
New York and San Francisco are in fact designated as sanctuary cities. These cities earn that designation when they issue ordinances that limit the resources offered to federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which seek information about people as they try to enforce federal immigration law.
However, Ortiz explained that cities such as San Francisco may not be equipped to offer migrants these services.
“They’re coming in with these hopes that San Francisco is going to be able to give them food, housing, all these other services available for them. When really it actually may not be the case, given that we have a mini crisis in our city like a homelessness crisis, mental health crisis. So, it actually potentially is going to compound the issues that are already here further.”
Ortiz added that migrants can end up finding themselves in a dangerous spot when they arrive at these cities.
“If people come in and they don’t have a housing available opportunity, they’re going to become homeless. If they don’t have access to medications and health care, that can also become an issue,” Ortiz said.
KTSM reached out to SanctuaryCities.com via email to request an interview on Wednesday. On Thursday, a man who said he was helping out with the website spoke with KTSM’s news partners at Telemundo via.
He identified himself as “Will Osborne,” though the correct spelling of his name was not given and the person on the other end did not turn on their camera during the Zoom interview. The name on the screen does say Will O.
Will O said the website was put together by a group of concerned American citizens who want to “get the word out” about “sanctuary cities,” adding that these are places that “do welcome immigrants.”
Will O says racism lurks in the U.S., but cities Like New York, Chicago and San Francisco are different, and the people behind SanctuaryCities.com want migrants to know they are welcome in “those cities.”
When asked why the billboards are going up in El Paso, he said it’s “a prime location” and has been a “focus for travelers to come through.”
He said the website or people behind the website do not offer services, and that it’s just a way to get the word out.
“We’re just looking to get the word out and point to the right place. We are not providing services ourselves,” he said.
Read: Read More