The city of San Fernando’s city council deliberated for over an hour and a half on Monday on whether to designate the small, predominantly Latino city of 23,000 a “Sanctuary City,” in addition to adding three new policies that would bolster its protections for immigrants.
By a vote of three to two, the motion was denied.
The motion was brought forth by Mary Solorio, the vice mayor of San Fernando, for discussion at last night’s city council meeting. In the first part of the discussion, Councilmember Joel Fajardo voiced his opposition to adopting the designation “Sanctuary City,” or any version of that, for the city of San Fernando, saying that the term is too problematic and politically charged. Fajardo argued that adopting such a term could turn the city and its residents into “a target by this administration, potentially jeopardizing people even more.”
This same sentiment was shared by Mayor Mary Mendoza, who wanted to avoid “unintended consequences, putting our residents at greater risk by putting a target on their backs.” Councilmember Victoria Garcia added, “There are some cities that call themselves a sanctuary city, and I think that they tend to be, like, really big cities that have the resources to fight legally.”
Feeling the general consensus of the council was against adopting the term “Sanctuary City,” Vice Mayor Solorio wanted to clarify her stance by explaining that her “intent was not necessarily to adopt a sanctuary city name.” Rather, her intention was to make sure the city of San Fernando implemented stronger safeguards for immigrants.
Currently, the city of San Fernando follows the same five policies as the city of L.A., Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena in regard to immigrant protection.