Should Los Angeles remain a sanctuary city?

I was coming out of a lovely restaurant in Downtown L.A., Le Petit Paris. My Uber ride was waiting for me across the street... Annoyed that he had parked on the wrong side of a one-way street. And then, there was a homeless man shouting at the car. The driver didn't budge, the car remained in its spot. Did the driver not realize that I would have to be right next to the screaming and clearly emotionally unstable person to get in the car? 

As soon as I closed the door, the driver apologized. He wasn't sure if he should even be driving. Right after he had finished his last ride in Old Town Pasadena, a homeless person threw an object at the car and damaged it. He was upset and emotionally shaken. A couple of weeks before, someone threw a brick or something like that at his parked car and broke a window. For a person who drives full-time for ride-share, you can imagine the financial hardship they face when their cars get damaged. 

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

As an Angeleno, I am told that I am a rarity in Los Angeles. I stopped driving over a decade ago. I don't have a car. I don't have a driver's license. I walk, ride the Metro trains (L.A.'s subway) and utilize ride-share. I get to see more of the city that I love but hate for its loss of civility. For me, civility is more than politeness. It is about mindfulness and genuine care for others. 

The City of Los Angeles stretches 44 miles from north to south and 29 miles from east to west. The city is home to over 46,000 homeless people without or very limited access to water, running water, and toilets. Fortunate ones live in tent encampments while others sleep behind trash bins, alleyways, bus benches, subway stations, and in the middle of the street... Some on abandoned couches and soiled mattresses. I'm sure I'm missing a handful of other sleep spots. Most dig through trash cans for food and to drink. Some barely clothed. Some barefoot. To describe their living conditions as a public health hazard would be the mildest statement. It is inhumane. The issue is so horrid that the city has been under a State of Emergency on housing and homelessness. 

Yet, the city's government agencies and NGOs welcome and provide resources to immigrants who unlawfully entered this nation and bused from Texas. It isn't easy to criticize for providing support and resources to immigrants, regardless of how they entered this nation, but I felt betrayed and perplexed when I saw government officials and volunteers welcoming the immigrants as they stepped off the bus and offered them services. Shouldn't these services, which come with hefty price tags, have been offered the day before to some of those who were sleeping behind trash bins, alleyways, bus benches, subway stations, and in the middle of the streets? Shouldn't the services have been offered to those who are barefoot with infections, cuts, bruises, and other injuries to their foot the day before? If there are funds available to help those who unlawfully entered this nation, shouldn't that have first been spent on those who are already living in the city in inhumane living conditions?

It is easy to say, "We are a sanctuary city." It is the humane, the right thing to do. Right? When I look at those barely clothed, digging through trash cans for food, sleeping on soiled mattresses surrounded by trash... When I see the inhumane conditions of the homeless people, I find that the city being a sanctuary to immigrants who unlawfully entered this nation is obtuse at best and cruel in reality. 

We are not Jesus. We cannot feed 5,000 with just five loaves and two fish like Jesus did. The reality is that we can't help everyone. The fact is that the city's social services have been failing for decades. The city's NGOs are overwhelmed. Demand for financial, medical, housing, and other living aids are outweighed by available resources, yet the City thinks that it can provide aid to immigrants bused from Texas. 

Being a sanctuary city isn't just about not cooperating with federal agencies in identifying and deporting unlawful residents. It is more than welcoming them. A sanctuary city should be able to provide financial, medical, housing, living, and social aid until they can sustain on their own. We already know that we don't have enough resources to do so. 

In a city where lack of affordable housing is pushing elders onto the streets, is it the right thing to welcome those who will likely need affordable housing? Isn't that the same indifference as Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake?" It is simply easier to say everyone is welcome rather than making the uncomfortable stand of... We can't. We are in a State of Emergency because more than 40,000 people are already living in inhumane conditions.

There are over 300 cities in the United States with a population of at least 100,000. There are over a thousand cities in the United States. Sometimes, we have to be courageous enough to stand up and leave the table so someone else will sit down at the table. The City of Los Angeles needs to smell the stench of inhumanity and wake up to see that taking in more population in need of aid is meaningless. In fact, it is unfair and damaging to over 40,000 homeless people. 

It is time we stop saying socially correct things, things that make us feel like we are enlightened. It is time that we take meaningful actions to stop the inhumanity displayed out on the streets of the city. And perhaps one day, we will be able to become a true sanctuary city for immigrants who unlawfully entered this nation's soil and need aid.