Utah Approaches Immigration in Two Different Ways

Even under the more lenient proposal, Utah would still require the state to report to the federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency immigrants who do not have the proper documents and commit a major crime.

While many state legislatures are considering variations of the Arizona immigration law aimed to crack down on undocumented workers, a few others, like Utah are seeking a different path. Two bi-partisan legislators in Utah say they have a more constructive way to handle the controversial issue.

Utah’s bill introduced by state Sen. Luz Robles, a Democrat, and state Rep. Jeremy Peterson, a Republican, also has the support of the Sutherland Institute, a conservative think tank in Salt Lake City.

According to USA Today, the bill introduced by Robles and Peterson, known as the Pilot Accountability Permit Program, would grant work permits to undocumented immigrants so they could work legally in the state. This would occur only after the undocumented immigrant passes a criminal background check, and it would require them to pay taxes and take English classes. If they lost their jobs they would be forced to leave the state.

Another measure, more closely molded after the Arizona law, has already cleared a House committee vote in the Utah legislature. That bill, known as HB 70 was introduced by Republican Rep. Stephen Sandstrom and is strictly an enforcement-only law.

“We need a deterrent in the state of Utah,” Sandstrom told the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee last Friday. “We have no deterrent right now.”

According to KSL.com, the committee approved Sandstrom’s bill by a 9-3 vote with Democrats casting the dissenting votes. HB 70 requires police officers to verify the legal status of people detained for class A misdemeanor and felony offenses if the officer has “reasonable suspicion” they are in the country illegally. Officers would not have to check the status of those suspected of class B and class C misdemeanors, but could if they chose to.

Even under the more lenient proposal, Utah would still require the state to report to the federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency immigrants who do not have the proper documents and commit a major crime.

“It is very rare,” Eric Rodriguez, vice president of public policy for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights group, said of the bill introduced by Robles and Peterson. “It just feels more meaningful than what we’ve seen in other states.”

According to USA Today, Paul Mero, director of the conservative Sutherland Institute, said he had become disheartened by the dozens of bills flowing through the Utah Capitol and other state legislatures that focused on trying to catch and deport illegal immigrants. He said the immigration system needs to be fixed by Congress, but in the meantime, Utah should focus on constructive ways to deal with the 110,000 illegal immigrants living in the state.

“You really have two paths,” Mero said. “The one path leads to rounding them up or starving them out. Or, you can actually go down this other path of rationality and practicality.”

Not everyone agreed with him.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates lower levels of immigration, told USA Today that the core of the bill is unconstitutional because states cannot regulate immigration numbers.

He called the bill “de facto amnesty” and considered it a political gesture since it has little chance of surviving legal challenges.

Robles acknowledged that the possibility of her proposal being approved and then meeting a legal challenge were not good. No matter the outcome, she told USA Today, she hoped the bill would help change the tone of the national immigration debate.

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The Americano 2.17.2011

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