The umpteen members of congress who represent Austin are not burning up my phone to ask me how I’d solve immigration. But if they did, I’d tell them to call my friend Pete Gallego. (Full disclosure: Pete was a client in 2004 and in 2012 but is not currently a client.)

A former state representative, Pete now represents a congressional district that sprawls from San Antonio across 800 miles of our border with Mexico all the way to El Paso. If there’s one person in Congress both parties should be listening to, it’s the guy who represents a swing district where half of the residents speak a language other than English at home.

To hear Pete tell it, his district is what Washington politicians don’t get about immigration.

“Here’s the thing about Texas — and the thing about the border. We all know undocumented immigrants. They sit in our churches, are friends with our children and work all around us. They are just like us,” says Gallego. “This issue affects people close to me. My grandmother was not a U.S. citizen. Growing up along the border, you see the real human side of immigration — not the picture often drawn by politicians far removed from the border. Read more