Business is booming for TV ads that blame San Francisco for America's ills, as another such spot is hitting the statewide airwaves this week. Don Rosenberg, seen above, lost his son Drew in a 2010 car accident in which the younger Rosenberg was killed when his motorcycle was struck by a car driven by an unlicensed immigrant. The understandably grieving Rosenberg, who was once handcuffed and escorted out of congressional testimony for an outburst during Senate hearings on immigration reform, frames his son’s death as a preventable tragedy in a new TV spot that also invokes the 2015 Kate Steinle shooting. The real culprit, as the ad sees it, is San Francisco’s Sanctuary City policy which the city is suing the feds to preserve.
The ad, which can be seen above, is paid for by the not-at-all-creepy-sounding Californians for Population Stabilization, a group you’ll be shocked to hear has employed neo-Nazis and white supremacists accordinf to the Southern Pacific Law Center and was co-founded by a white nationalist who advocated for forced sterilization.
“I’m asking President Trump to withhold federal funds from California,” Rosenberg says in the ad. “Then maybe politicians will put our safety first.” (Emphasis on the “our.” Draw your own conclusions.)
CBS 5 reached Rosenberg, who is generally happy to talk to the media, and asked whether he thought reversing the sanctuary policy was worth the trade-off of separating families.
“It’s a false equivalency,” Rosenberg said. “My son was doing nothing wrong. My family was doing nothing wrong
[Immigrants] can go back. I can’t bring my son back.”
The San Francisco City Attorney’s office is bothered enough by the ad that they’ve released a statement. “This ad perpetuates the false notion that sanctuary cities harbor criminals. The federal government actually gets the fingerprints of everyone in San Francisco’s jails,” spokesperson John Cote says in the statement. “They know who we are holding. If they think someone is dangerous, all they need to do is get a criminal warrant or court order.”
For reference, a previous Californians for Population Stabilization ad blamed immigrants for the recent statewide drought.
Related: Chronicle Publishes Op-Ed By Jeff Sessions Saying Sanctuary Cities Killed Kate Steinle
