John Bechtel, mayor of Wilder, Idaho, a rural town with 1,553 residents, many of them Hispanic, was in Washington Tuesday as part of a group urging the House to take action on passing immigration reform. In an editorial in The Hill, Bechtel relays his experience as a longtime resident and mayor of Wilder and his personal experiences in dealing with an immigration system that refuses to allow his Filipino-born daughter-in-law into the U.S.
"Our little city is more than 70 percent Latino; our schools are 80 percent. Over the past 10 years we’ve had nine Gates Millennium Scholarship winners in our high school graduating class—all Latino. Any city would be proud of that," Bechtel writes. "Our city’s slogan is 'Welcome to Wilder, Come Grow with Us.' When I signed a resolution declaring Wilder a welcoming city a few years ago, I got quite a bit of flack. People thought I was supporting undocumented immigration. I simply believe all people should be treated with respect."
Describing his son's troubles, Bechtel writes, "Seeing this in my own family has given me a new perspective on the challenges immigrants face in coming here and the importance of reuniting families. There is no reason in the world that it should be this difficult to get to the United States, stay here and make a living. The bureaucracy around immigration has exploded, and nothing has been done about the broken laws that are hurting people’s lives."
"If you live in the United States legally, and you want to bring your mother from Mexico to live with you, the average wait is 12 years," he writes. "If you want to come here from the Philippines, the time on the waiting list is closer to 20 years. Immigration reform is personal to me: a white guy, the mayor of a small rural town in the heart of red-state Idaho. I’m probably the last guy you’d expect to see pushing for immigration reform. But the fact is, rural towns across America need immigration reform the most. Past generations of immigrants built rural America; new generations are revitalizing it." (Read more)
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| John Bechtel |
Describing his son's troubles, Bechtel writes, "Seeing this in my own family has given me a new perspective on the challenges immigrants face in coming here and the importance of reuniting families. There is no reason in the world that it should be this difficult to get to the United States, stay here and make a living. The bureaucracy around immigration has exploded, and nothing has been done about the broken laws that are hurting people’s lives."
"If you live in the United States legally, and you want to bring your mother from Mexico to live with you, the average wait is 12 years," he writes. "If you want to come here from the Philippines, the time on the waiting list is closer to 20 years. Immigration reform is personal to me: a white guy, the mayor of a small rural town in the heart of red-state Idaho. I’m probably the last guy you’d expect to see pushing for immigration reform. But the fact is, rural towns across America need immigration reform the most. Past generations of immigrants built rural America; new generations are revitalizing it." (Read more)
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