Mayor foresees growth ‘boom’ in San Luis in next several years
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — All he has so far is the benefit of hearsay, but San Luis Mayor Gerardo Sanchez thinks his city’s population is going to take a big jump in the next several years.
Sanchez said people with family ties to Mexico, foreseeing stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration laws by the Trump administration, will settle down in San Luis out of fear they could lose their permanent residency status in this country.
“I predict that in the next two or three years we are going to have a boom in the growth of the city because of changes in immigration,” Sanchez said at a recent San Luis City Council meeting.
“It’s going to be similar to what hap- pened with amnesty under President Ronald Reagan,” he said, referring to the 1986 immigration law that granted legal status to millions of people who had been longterm illegal residents of the United States.
Sanchez’s comments related to immigration regulations under which holders of permanent U.S. residency cards can lose their legal status if they remain outside the country for longer than six months at a time.
The mayor admitted he has gotten no notice the regulation is being enforced more strictly now than before, but he said he has seen clear signals that many permanent legal residents will set down roots in San Luis, owing to its proximity to Mexico.
“People tell me that they are being asked
more questions (about their residency) when they cross through the port of entry” from Mexico. “I hear from those who sell real estate, who say that people are constantly talking to them about how to buy a home, about where there are houses for rent.”
San Luis has grown rapidly since its incorporation as a city in 1979, when the population was barely more than 2,000.
According to U.S. Census, the city’s population in 2013 was 31,180 residents, up nearly 6,000 from just three years earlier.
Sanchez said the current estimate places the population at more than 32,000. And he expects that number to grow substantially over the next three years.
Sanchez’s comments came as the council discussed the efforts City Hall is making to serve a growing population. Sanchez said he believes the city is ready to absorb the growth, thanks to investments made by the city recent years to expand and improve its water delivery and sewer systems.
“That growth is going to benefit the community a lot,” he said. “We are prepared with the infrastructure and services. The hard work will be for the developers.”