http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3974971


Cannon, Jacob again spar on illegal immigration

By Glen Warchol
The Salt Lake Tribune
With the campaign heading into its last weekend before the primary election Tuesday, 3rd Congressional District candidates John Jacob and Chris Cannon faced off Friday to yet again take a stand on immigration reform.
And once again, it was unclear what their positions are.
Controlling illegal immigration has become a pivotal issue in elections nationwide, and the taping of the debate on KUED-TV drew national attention, this time from a reporter from the Washington Times. Other verbal clashes between the 3rd District candidates have been reported in the Congressional Quarterly and on CNN.
Cannon said he wants immigration reform to look like some combination of the best parts of the
U.S. House and Senate plans. Cannon says he opposes amnesty, and he has said undocumented workers could pay fines and return to their home country to apply for re-entry into the United States.
"You need to have rules, and they have to be clear," Cannon said. "The key is to do something without destroying [businesses]. . . . That is a stress that is unreasonable."
Cannon said the important thing was to bring undocumented workers "out of the shadows" and identify and deport the serious criminals among them. Cannon sees a ''temporary worker program'' as a partial solution.
Jacob has said he would deport undocumented immigrants and fine companies that hire them. "We need to stop up the borders. Now!" he said.
Referring to Cannon's economic concerns, Jacob said: "He's worried about the stress that might come [from deportation]. I'm worried about the problems we have right now. . . . You can't just let business be the only ruling factor in this."
Jacob again attacked Cannon for flip-flopping on the issue.
"You say during the campaign that you are tough on [illegal immigration]," he said. 'But two months ago, you weren't tough on it."
Cannon denied changing his position, which he says always has been to find a workable way to provide workers for American industry without compromising the security of the borders.

"It's a complex system. We need to solve it piece by piece in an
overall way that makes sense," he said.
The half-hour televised debate aired Friday and will be repeated at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on Channel 7. It ended before other issues could be explored - including two embarrassments to the Jacob campaign that emerged Friday on the front pages of Utah's largest daily newspapers.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Jacob told reporters that Satan was his primary adversary in the race and, by causing him financial reversals, had made it impossible for his campaign to spend freely on advertising.
"I shouldn't have said it [to reporters]," Jacob said, then joked: "The devil made me do it."
Still, he would not back off his Satan-as-foe hypothesis: "In the last 10 months, I've had more adversity in my businesses than I have had in my entire life."
Responding to rumors spread on the Internet and a radio talk show, Jacob acknowledged in the Deseret Morning News that he had played poker in Las Vegas. But Jacob maintains he quit gambling when the head of his religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reiterated that gambling is a sin.
"Gambling is wrong - there is no question," he said.
Cannon said his camp had nothing to do with those rumors or earlier ones that Jacob had hired illegal immigrants. "We have pushed people like that away," Cannon said. "They [those who spread the rumors] are not supporters of me, they are people who don't like him."
Jacob said he did not think Cannon is behind the rumors. But, he said, "There's a difference between Cannon supporters and Cannon."

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