Have You Seen the “Sanctuary City” Billboards in El Paso?

The billboards are near downtown El Paso, clearly placed where newly arrived immigrants and asylum seekers will see them.

One billboard has a picture of New York City, the other of San Francisco.

Both say that the cities pictured are “sanctuary cities” and that each city “Welcomes Immigrants”. Here’s the story our news partners at KVIA ABC-7 ran that shows the boards.

The billboards also have a link to SanctuaryCities.com.

Presumably, that’s the organization that’s paying for the boards. I checked out that website and…I don’t think it is what it claims to be. It’s not actually about compassion or concern for migrants.

On its website, SantuaryCities presents as a very pro-immigrant, positive resource. They tout NYC and SFO as “safe havens for immigrants like you, regardless of your status”.

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There are pictures of a young woman cuddling a puppy and a white arm and a brown are “fist-bumping” each other. It claims that “sanctuary cities” won’t cooperate with federal authorities.

It promises that those cities are full of welcoming saints, where “diversity” is a cherished community value. Essentially, it portrays New York and San Francisco (and other cities) as some kind of paradise for immigrants.

They only let on that this is hokum when they make claims like, “Many San Franciscans believe that their city was stolen from Ohlone people and that they don’t have a right to be there in the first place”.

It’s the kind of mushy treacle that anti-immigrant conservatives project onto liberals.

Local homeless advocate John Martin is worried that this information is misleading and harmful to migrants and asylum-seekers. Also, he says he isn’t sure about the motive behind the billboards.

“Is the motive positive or negative?”, Martin told KVIA. “That’s the question that needs to be answered.”

I’m willing to bet dollars to navy beans that if we found out who’s truly behind these billboards, it’s WAY more likely that they’re “We Build the Wall” MAGA-types than bleating-heart liberals.