A pair of billboards in El Paso, Texas, appear to be advertising to migrants in the city, showing that San Francisco and New York City are sanctuary cities.
The billboards on Interstate 10 near downtown El Paso display iconic spots from both of the big cities as they say “welcomes immigrants” and “sanctuary city” in bright yellow lettering.
However, El Paso officials, like John Martin, the deputy director for the El Paso Opportunity Center for the Homeless, have been left confused by the signage.
“You know, it’s really not visible to the migrant population,” Martin shared with NBC Bay Area. “It’s just an unusual location, if that’s what their purpose is.”
There is also a website on both of the signs, SanctuaryCities.com, which doesn’t offer much information other than descriptions of some of the social services offered in San Francisco and a blurb about San Francisco being named a sanctuary city in 1989.
The San Francisco mayor’s office said it would be looking into the billboards, but offered no further comment at this time.
Kevin Ortiz, who works for the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club, said the site and billboards may be creating a flawed expectation for immigrants in El Paso.
“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 may not actually be the case given that we have a mini-crisis in our city with a homelessness crisis, mental health crisis,” Ortiz told the media outlet. “So, it actually could compound the issues that are already here further.”
However, Will Osborn works for the group behind the billboards, and he told SFGATE that he’s one of a small number of “concerned American citizens” looking to help educate immigrants crossing into the U.S. who don’t know what cities have resources to accommodate them.
“These are the cities that have stepped up and made [migrant protections] a priority through their policies and their ordinances,” Osborn said of San Francisco and New York City.
Osbron says he hopes that immigrants worried about their safety see the signs and know that some cities are more welcoming than others.
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