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.”