Ali Noorani [00:00:00] This week, a Utah mayor on leading a changing community.
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:00:18] What I now see, and it’s tangible in this community, is this next generation that still have that direct connection to their native homes, but also our Utahns. And it really is exciting to see their political growth, their interest in their community.
Ali Noorani [00:00:38] From the National Immigration Forum. I’m Ali Noorani. And this is Only in America. When we think about the impacts of immigration policy, our attention is often drawn to what’s playing out at the national level. After all, federal immigration policies dictate who can enter the U.S. in the first place and, well, who’s allowed to stay. But for many who are already here, federal policies are only the beginning of a conversation that can play out much more meaningfully at the local level. What kind of resources can community members access? Is community information published in a language that they understand? In Utah, where the immigrant population has grown significantly in recent years, these kinds of conversations are only growing in importance. As today’s guest highlights, Utah’s changing demographics have presented new challenges and, well, new opportunities. When community members and elected officials understand how the state benefits from immigrant residents, they see it as their responsibility to welcome and support newcomers. But while public support is a huge step, how do we translate it into tangible resources and services for vulnerable or marginalized communities? How can local governments build community trust in a way that’s genuine? These questions about local government may not feel as monumental as national conversations, like a permanent solution for Dreamers, for example. But at the city and county level, they have immediate, meaningful impacts ob immigrant’s day to day lives. As we’ll hear today, Salt Lake County is helping build support networks that allow new Utahns to thrive. And for our guest, these welcoming initiatives are a no brainer. As the mayor of Utah’s Salt Lake County, Jenny Wilson is often at the forefront of embracing the opportunities and tackling the challenges that Utah’s immigrant communities face. A lifelong Salt Lake resident, Mayor Wilson saw the area grow from a mostly white, relatively small city into a thriving, diverse array of communities. As mayor, she has seen firsthand how important it is to foster inclusivity and welcome and, critically, how to put those values into action. Mayor Wilson and I discussed the next generation of Utahns and what she considers the Salt Lake region’s hidden treasures.
Ali Noorani [00:03:03] Mayor, first of all, thank you so, so much for joining. I really appreciate this opportunity to chat with you. And I got to say right off the top, salt Lake is hands down one of my favorite places. And trust me, I do not tell everybody that.
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:03:14] Well, we don’t either nowadays. We’ve had a lot of people moving and recently we’re excited about that. But we love our trails. We love our mountains. Utah’s been discovered and my county has as well so – happy to welcome people. But we also love our resources and mountains and great community.
Ali Noorani [00:03:36] Well, it’s a great place. I mean, having grown up in Utah, tell me a little bit about how the state, particularly the county itself, has changed over time.
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:03:44] Well, you know, I was pretty lucky as a kid, even though at times I didn’t think so. I grew up the daughter of the Salt Lake City mayor. So I was born in nineteen sixty five. And about 10 years later, in the mid 70s, my father was elected mayor of Salt Lake City. So I went with Dad to community events and would have to drag him out of the movie theater because everyone would be complaining about their potholes. And Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County were much simpler then. We didn’t have the diversity that you see now in our community where a very Caucasian focused state and county certainly. And I remember those years where it was really easy to move about our county, our city, where we’re a bigger city now with traffic challenges. We’ve invested, of course, in mass transit. We have a more dynamic downtown. We are a post Olympic city, having hosted the Winter Games here in 2002, and now we’re trying to get them again. So life’s changed quite a bit. And I know we are going to talk about our changing diversity today, and it certainly has changed in that manner as well.
Ali Noorani [00:05:01] And so how does the infusion over time of, you know, an immigrant community and immigrant workforce, how is that really contributed to I mean, just I think one of the most vital and entrepreneurial regions in the country these days?
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:05:15] Well, I think, you know, we started years and years ago becoming a State Department resettlement community. And I’ve had friends in that Tibetan community since my childhood, pretty much my young adulthood. We’ve welcomed people from African nations, really nations throughout the world at various times, sometimes in small numbers, sometimes larger numbers. And I really feel now that we’re seeing a more, I think, connected community, in a way, in that we see larger representation of the groups I’ve mentioned, we’ve seen impact in the business community, we’ve seen cultural change, all of that, and it’s enriching our community. Another interesting factor is we have a very diversified economy now. And I see our refugee community and our immigrant community being very closely tied to that diversity and our success. And we’re always interested in a new employer and bringing about a new industry here or expanding what we do have. And I feel like people that I’ve met have said one of the reasons I’m attracted to utah now is it is a more diverse community. We do have people from all walks of life and from all, you know, a lot of an international flavor to a certain degree. And then lastly, I would note, I remember running for office a few years ago and I saw a federal office and I was getting out of my comfort zone of Salt Lake County and touring the state again. And I started to recognize not just in my county, which is the heart of our population here in Utah, but throughout the state, this emerging young, diverse individual, at least 20 something year olds that were jumping into the workforce or I was meeting at our colleges throughout the state and a light bulb went off. And I’m like, this is the next generation of people whose parents came here 20, 30 years ago, kids who may have come here with them when they were quite young or born here. So what I now see, and it’s tangible in this community, is this next generation that still have that direct connection to the their native homes, but also our Utahns. And it really is exciting to see their political growth or interest in their community. And it’s been a privilege for me to get to know a lot of these young people that have been young people working in my office on campaigns, interning a very civically minded and an active voice, often for change, et cetera. So it’s it’s exciting.
Ali Noorani [00:08:15] So then, as you know, when you when you stepped into office in January 2019, I believe, from the perch of being a local elected official, how are you thinking of how the county should be integrating and really supporting the immigrant community in Salt Lake?
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:08:30] Well, we know that if you arrive in our county, you likely need a safety net of some sort, depending on how you come. Sometimes it’s an academic environment that might provide a transition in. It might be a State Department temporary assistance. But but there are going to be barriers, often language barriers, cultural barriers. And I think it’s up to us as elected leaders to provide that runway towards success. We get the benefit. So we have to learn how to invest to mitigate the foundation. I want to give a shout out to my sister, who I feel like I’ve been involved in policy as it relates to this community. But my sister is very hands on. She was hosting families when they were first coming. And I remember a story where she was pulled into a situation where the the new immigrant into our community that she was sort of fostering into the system just didn’t know how to manage the appliances in the apartment. So it’s everything from putting people on a trajectory towards success. And success means a lot of things. But it’s also finding hands and hearts and ways to bring people through some very basic transitions. And I’ve had the opportunity to just be part of some engagements where I’ve been on the other side and have not known the language spoken, just a fun exercise that was done by our local refugee community. And believe me, as I tried to buy the groceries, register my kid for school, figure out where the medical clinic was or how to take the bus, it was impossible for me. And I think it’s up to us as leaders and we take it seriously, in Salt Lake county, to help provide the foundation that’s needed.
Ali Noorani [00:10:34] And what are new initiatives like the the Office of New Americans, the Counties United for Citizenship Initiative, or even the Welcoming Salt Lake initiative. Where do those kind of fit into this kind of range of strategies to help immigrants and refugees integrate into Salt Lake?
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:10:53] Well, we’re proud to be a welcoming community, an authorized a welcoming community – the first one, our initiatives have expanded since then. I’ll tell you, we’ve had leadership long before me and an amazing staff long before I was able to take on this role as mayor. And our staff on a day to day basis are integrated into the community, both with nonprofit partners, with individuals, one on one building capacity, creating connection, and really trying to figure out where the challenges are, whether they be, you know, two that I can point to that were nationwide challenges, one being the census, and wanting a full count, and another being COVID. And in both of those instances, our offices were connecting with communities, getting the word out, boots on the ground for the census, coordinating with the US Census Office. Our count ended up stronger than we thought it might given covid hit. And there were barriers at the federal level throughout the census process and then covid itself. We certainly invested in additional temporary staff through our health department, but our Office of New Americans and Diversity and inclusion was very much part of the conversation, and making sure everything was translated, messaging was done appropriately. We were out serving communities and right now, like every other county and city in the nation, we’re trying to target specific zip codes to get more people in. We’re trying to identify where we have success with our various ethnicities and build infrastructure, that’s a little more taking it to people as opposed to asking them to show up to our big mega centers. In fact, we’re closing those and we’re shifting almost exclusively right now to a covid vaccine delivery that is more neighborhood and locally based.
Ali Noorani [00:12:59] That’s great. That’s great. And how much of a challenge is to identify the staff who in essence kind of are trusted by the community so that if somebody’s coming in to that neighborhood, you know, who looks like the community can speak the language? That’s just such a big part of being able to deliver these services, I imagine.
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:13:19] Well, trust is a very big issue, especially because we know that in our community we have a relatively large number of people who are undocumented. And I’ve always felt in my advocacy for our community as a whole, it’s important for me as a political leader to speak out. And I have and I will continue to and we need to find workarounds for services, because the reality is we’re not seeing federal change as quickly as we need to. So when you’ve got a Mayor Mendenhall of Salt Lake City who sends the right message to her police department and a leading Salt Lake, what used to be our Salt Lake County sheriff, it’s in our unified police department, but it’s our county affiliated group, a woman of color herself, a Latina, sending the right signal to that community by speaking out in favor of immigration reform and continuing to be willing to to to push for advancements and stand that to me is hopefully resonating to the community that Salt Lake County is trusted. And and then to your point specifically, we look to find people that are like minded and love the community. And we don’t, unfortunately, have the resources to have a point person to represent every diverse person that comes. I mean, we’re speaking dozens and dozens of languages in our schools here in Salt Lake City, in Salt Lake County, believe it or not. And people come from various nations throughout the world. So we can’t have a representative for each. It’s more not so much that it needs to be a direct match in terms of the journey one has had or the ethnicity, but just a willingness to reach out and listen. And we also have great community partners. And this the success, if we have any or the challenge that we continue to have, is all based on this united approach with community.
Ali Noorani [00:15:31] I have to say, I think one of the least appreciated nuggets of the Salt Lake – the region – is just the diversity and the vitality of the area. I just don’t think the rest of the country kind of realizes that at all.
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:15:43] No, I don’t think they do. And I think that’s one of our hidden treasures. And again, I think when we do recruit firms or firms are expanding, I think people are pleasantly surprised. Not only did they walk away from a recruitment visit and say, oh, yeah, I love that I can go to an outdoor concert right in the heart of the city in the foothills and enjoy major artists coming in the summer. And I can hop on a mountain bike and be on amazing trails two minutes, my urban home and my downtown. But I also can enjoy an association with people that aren’t just from the predominant religion here in the state or like me, a fifth generation Utahns whose ancestors came in with the pioneers, right? So we have a lot to offer here and multiple languages, people from all walks of life from around the world are definitely a part of the fabric and our selling point as a great place to to live, to visit, to come and enjoy.
Ali Noorani [00:16:49] But there’s also something where I feel like Utah is a state is also a very interesting kind of political example for the country, because you of the Utah Compact from back in 2010, but even just over the last few weeks where the legislature took to the governor’s desk and signed this bill that allows legal permanent residents to become police officers. So what’s in the water in Utah that allows for this type of kind of a solution oriented posture towards immigration?
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:17:22] Well, I think it’s largely just the people in our community, I think we;re raised to respect one another. I mean, I would say that we’re slipping as everyone is right now, and that we have to get back to a more reasonable framework and not be so divided politically. We’ve had political division here. I’m very committed to my party. I work with others all the time that are as well on opposite sides of the aisles, but I fear really are what’s around the corner if we don’t get back to a more even dialog. And having said that, I think it is part of our ethic and our culture to be neighborly and to be open and to be welcoming. And then I think that our churches, not just the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, which has a worldwide missionary program. So people who do go off men and women, young men and women for a couple of years and serve the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in these nations throughout the world and come back with some cultural understanding. So it’s that, but it’s our other religions and leaders. I mean, our long, our just retired, long serving Calvary Baptist Church leader was on every board, involved in every community issue you can imagine. I remember I first got to know him on a task force of the Olympic Games when I worked there. So it’s like we’re our Catholic bishop is often meeting with our other religious leaders, et cetera. So I feel like it’s just part of our ethic here is to try and be neighborly, be open. It’s a value that – I just again, want to get us back to a time of more acceptance and tolerance, and I think our nation right now isn’t quite there and we have some work to do.
Ali Noorani [00:19:26] We certainly do. We certainly do. So give me your sense of what kind of the current debate in Congress around dreamers, around farm workers, around temporary protected status recipients. What do these three populations mean to Salt Lake County? And why is it important that Congress figures out a ways to to really stabilize their status here in the US?
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:19:49] Well, they’re important to us. You know, I was surprised when I looked at the Advocates for Progress DOCA protections that our farm bureau was a part of that dialog, pretty conservative group, but they recognize the need for the workforce. We are, as I mentioned, these young people who have come here, who are have had and will now have again the protections under DACA. That’s pretty critical for us because these are brilliant young people that are contributing and they know no home other than this one. Or they might have a distant memory of their their birth and their early years in whatever nation they’re coming from. But in any event, I think it’s critical that we put them on – I mean, they’ve already been contributing, right? Put them on a path, a fair path. I mean, the one offs were actually, I don’t really mean the one offs, the people that I directly made in this in this world, you know, a handful here or there. Their stories are so compelling that, you know. It’s hard enough to be a young person. I know I’ve got a college age son and a high school son. It’s hard enough to add a legal barrier and have yet another stone to carry through life because you’re not on an even playing field when you’ve lived a life here in this state or this nation is unfortunate. So it’s important that we move forward and are pushing hard on and receiving hopefully the continued benefits. And, you know, I worked for Congress years and years ago in the 90s, and I thought we had at least some progress. I left there ’96 here we are, right? 20 years later. Without that, the progress that we made – and more than 20 years later, as I’m adding in my head, wait, it’s been longer than that! It’s unfortunate. It shouldn’t be a quarter of a century to not move forward.
Ali Noorani [00:22:05] Yeah. So last question for you. Let’s say we’re having this conversation in 5, 10 years. Know what does the future of immigrants, refugees, Salt Lake County look like in five or 10 years?
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:22:18] Well, I would hope we continue to reunite families that have been separated. I hope we have our border policies sorted out, which is going to mean federal action. I visited the border and understand, I guess I don’t fully understand, but I had a glimpse directly on the challenges there. And I want to help be a resource. I don’t want people living in fear that they’re going to get a knock at the door. I’d like a better path for people who are having some barriers to advancement and work simply because they don’t have the appropriate status or they’re held up and paying legal fees and with obstructions that are unnecessary. I hope that our state and our nation recognize the Farm Bureau is right. We need people. Our immigrants, our friends in the community, whether they came here by crossing a border or taking an airplane or wherever, even back to early days, everyone here is welcome. And we really need to get back to a path to success for our people and stop throwing up ridiculous roadblocks that hold us back. So, I’m hopeful and I believe our community will overcome the division and our nation will as well. And I’ve got to be glass half full in these hard times right now, because I think it’s it’s hard for me to wrap my head around us having the quality of life that you’ve recognized, having visited here our road. And I think we’ll be on the good path. I’m hopeful.
Ali Noorani [00:24:05] Thank you so, so much of the time. I really, really appreciate it. I look forward to coming out and visiting in person sometime very soon.
Mayor Jenny Wilson [00:24:10] Yeah. Check in when you do. I’d love to meet up with you in person.
Ali Noorani [00:24:18] Jenny Wilson is the mayor of Salt Lake County. You can hear more about Mayor Wilson and our website, ImmigrationForum.org/Podcast. Look, if you like what you hear, subscribe to, Only in America, wherever you listen to fine podcasts. Tune in next week for a conversation with another Utah community leader, Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown. Only in America is produced and edited by Katie Lutz, Joanna Taylor and Becka Wall. Our artwork and graphics are designed by Karla Leyja. I’m Ali Noorani, and I will chat with you next week.
Underwriting [00:24:52] Support for the National Immigration Forum comes from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and strengthening international peace and security and from Humanity United. When humanity is united, we can bring a powerful force for human dignity.