Pro-Immigrant Demonstrators Call for Affirmation of SF Sanctuary Status

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appeared in front of City Hall shortly after a loud rally and defended the city's status as a sanctuary offering protection for undocumented immigrants. He said the goal of San Francisco's sanctuary ordinance is to promote public safety.

Immigrant Rights groups organized for years to get the sanctuary legislation passed in 1989. San Francisco's sanctuary policy was adopted to allow undocumented residents full access to city services without question about their legal status. It is beneficial to the whole community in many ways, one example being that it encourages crime victims and witnesses to participate in the legal system without fear of immigration authorities. It also assures that children will be educated rather than left without schooling, and that public health measures such as vaccines are available to the community in its entirety for the common good.

During the morning rally Renee Saucedo, an attorney with La Raza Centro, spoke for many saying the city should affirm the sanctuary law and "call out these hatemongers," referring to the Minutemen Project, a small group that came to attack Newsom in particular and liberal leaning San Francisco in general. La Raza Centro was only one many groups that called for the protest to counter the Minutemen's racist stance.

Most of the handful of Minutemen who showed up at City Hall are not San Francisco residents but arrived in the city early on Wednesday to demand Newsom's resignation. As a group they frequently cite accidents and crimes committed by a small number of immigrants as "proof" that they are unworthy of residence in the United States. Yesterday they spoke of the San Francisco case of Salvadoran immigrant Edwin Ramos as an example of a youth who they feel should have been turned over to immigration authorities but instead benefitted from the city's sanctuary status.

San Francisco's mayor has recently backed away from a full commitment to honoring what some activists feel constitutes true sanctuary status. The city has turned some youths arrested for felonies over to federal authorities, despite earlier pledges to keep the undocumented free from immigration status interference.

Other nearby cities including Oakland and San Jose have declared themselves to have sanctuary status. Late night emails flew Tuesday when the large network of immigrant rights activists got wind that the Minutemen were coming to town. Amongst those notifying their membership of the Minutemen's imminent appearance were St. Peter's Housing, A.N.S.W.E.R., San Francisco and Mountain View day laborer centers, and South Bay Mobilization. Also alerted were other groups that helped organize the large May 1 demonstrations in the Bay Area that filled the streets for peace, Labor, and immigrant rights.