Two billboards in El Paso, Texas, are catching the attention of officials in San Francisco and New York City.
The billboards tout the two cities as places that "welcome immigrants," but critics say the message is far more sinister.
The billboards on Interstate 10 near downtown El Paso display iconic images of New York City and San Francisco. The words "sanctuary city" and "welcomes immigrants" are written in bright yellow lettering across both.
El Paso Opportunity Center for the Homeless Deputy Director John Martin said both signs are puzzling.
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"You know, it's really not visible to the migrant population," he said. "It's just an unusual location, if that's what their purpose is."
Both signs also have a website listed, but the site doesn't offer much information other than general descriptions of some of San Francisco's social services and a blurb about the city's sanctuary city ordinance that was passed in 1989.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco mayor's office said they would look into the billboards.
Kevin Ortiz with the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club said the site and billboards may be creating flawed expectations.
"They're coming in with these hopes that San Francisco is going to be able to give them food, housing, all these other services available for them when really it may not actually be the case given that we have a mini crisis in our city with a homelessness crisis, mental health crisis," he said. "so, it actually could compound the issues that are already here further."
NBC Bay Area sent emails to the address listed in the website and received a response confirming the operators of the site are responsible for the billboards.
The writer also said they're a group of concerned citizens and would be interested in talking but didn't say when or provide any names of people who would be available to talk.
Martin said he's also confused why the billboards advertise San Francisco in particular. He said most migrants his organization works with in El Paso often say they're interested in going to New York, Chicago or Denver. San Francisco is almost never mentioned. When people do say they're interested in going to those cities, they warn them about what they're headed for.
"The common element between the three destinations I mentioned previously is colder temperatures and from what we've seen within the media, lack of shelter space," Martin said. "So, the potential that you're going to be on the street is high."
The billboards arrived just as El Paso is seeing a new surge of undocumented migrants across the border.
Martin said he would like to see better coordination between local groups in cities across the country to help line migrants up with better services, but he doesn't think that's the goal of whomever is behind the billboards.
