Daly City, California – One nagging question seems light years away from an answer: Can the ‘gateway to the Peninsula’ also become the ‘gateway to sanctuary’?

The question has been posed time and again by a group of concerned Filipinos as they wonder why Daly City has not gone the way the cities of New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and, closer to home, Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco in proclaiming itself a sanctuary city.

Daly City is known for hosting one of the largest concentrations of Filipinos in the country, with close to 50,000 residents. Needless to say, the city is also home to thousands of illegal Filipino immigrants.

Aside from the four listed above, 25 other California cities have been proclaimed safe havens, to mean a "don't ask, don't tell" stand on the immigration status of residents. It also means that city logistics and human resources may not be used to aid federal agents, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operatives, in locating and arresting illegal immigrants.

According to the Congressional Research Service -- a non-partisan arm of the Library of Congress -- of the 50 states, 28 have counties, cities, and towns within their boundaries that have declared themselves as sanctuaries. The list includes Detroit, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Washington D.C. as well as Alaska and Oregon. They cover roughly 25 million people, or more than 8 percent of the population of the United States.

San Francisco was declared a sanctuary city as early as 1989, a policy which time and again is upheld by the incumbent mayor, Gavin Newsom. Last year, he told a crowd: "We are standing up to say to all of our residents: ‘We don't care what your status is.’ We care that you, as a human being, are a resident of our city and we want you to participate in the life of our city."

Also last year, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and city council president Ignacio De La Fuente declared their city a ‘City of Refuge’ for illegal aliens, expanding on the 1986 council resolution that initially established Oakland as a haven for political refugees.

Voting unanimously, the city council adopted a resolution that forbids city employees or police officers from participating in immigration raids.

Filipino-American Ademan Angeles, one of the many community leaders in the Peninsula who denounce the continued non-conformity of Daly City, told FilAm Star: “Someone should take the cudgels for our kababayan who toil in America’s agricultural fields and plantations, clean its hotels, take care of the elderly in care homes and private residences, and are a great help in the communities they serve. They are also the ones who really have the largest share of dollars remitted to families back home.”

Angeles plans to spearhead a campaign to push the city council into declaring Daly City a sanctuary and, at press time, is drafting a proposal that will be submitted for immediate consideration by the city council

“It is about time something is started to help Filipino illegals, so they can avoid harassment,” Angeles insists. “The community must show them that something is being done to address their plight, in the same manner that Hispanic groups have taken a solid stand against harassment and sub-human treatment of undocumented immigrants.”

Efforts of FilAm Star to get a reaction on the sensitive issue from the Daly City Council have proved futile, as calls have not been returned at press time. A council member was contacted, but declined to comment and instead referred the inquiry to Mayor Carol Klatt who, in turn, could not be reached in time for press deadline.

Angeles admits that Filipinos, as a community, belong to the silent, low-key sector of American society and has virtually no voice, let alone clout, when it comes to political issues. This is why the Filipino community has never been considered a voting bloc worth wooing by major political candidates like Obama and McCain, he laments.

“It is only in unified efforts and untiring cooperation that we can advance our interests as Filipinos,” Angeles declared. “Nasa pagkakaisa at tuloy tuloy na pagtutulungan ang ikatatagumpay ng ating mga mithiin. (It is through unity and continued cooperation that we can achieve our goals.”)

FilAm Star