http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,640191653,00.html

Sunday, July 2, 2006

Guv ties Cannon's win to immigration

He says Utahns want comprehensive reform

By Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret Morning News

Rep. Chris Cannon's victory in the Republican primary shows that Utahns agree with his more comprehensive approach to immigration reform, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Thursday.

The immigration issue dominated the race between Cannon and his challenger in the primary, John Jacob. Jacob accused Cannon of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants, because the five-term congressman backs President Bush's proposed guest-worker program.

The primary race was widely seen as a referendum on immigration reform, which has stalled in Congress because lawmakers can't agree on what to do about the estimated 12 million undocumented workers currently in the United States.

Cannon beat Jacob, a real-estate developer, with 56 percent of the vote. The race attracted national attention, with a political-action committee opposed to illegal immigration spending $40,000 on radio ads supporting Jacob.

Huntsman said during the taping of his monthly news conference that airs on KUED Channel 7 that the primary results reflect what most Utahns — and most Americans — support in terms of immigration reform: increased border security and a way of dealing with the "human component," those workers who are already here.

The governor said Cannon addressed those issues. But there was never "a fully articulated view from the Jacob campaign other than (to) deal with the border," Huntsman said.

"I do believe that if we can take anything from the results of the election, it would be that comprehensive reform is what Americans and Utahns are looking for," the governor said, adding he hoped the election would serve as a call to Congress to take quick action.

Huntsman and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, put together a resolution on immigration reform that was adopted earlier this year by the Western Governors' Association. The resolution included calls for both increased security and a guest-worker program.

The Utah governor's involvement in the issue stemmed from his visit a year ago to Mexico City, where he met with Mexican President Vicente Fox. Huntsman was there to pitch an alliance between Utah and Mexico, but Fox wanted to talk about immigration.

So the governor, who also used the trip to extend a formal invitation to Fox to come to Utah, agreed to raise the issue with his Western counterparts. In May, Fox spent about a day in the state, speaking out against building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Huntsman traveled to the border earlier this month to visit Utah National Guard troops working on the wall. They were among the first deployed under President Bush's latest effort to curb illegal immigration, Operation Jump Start.

Both Cannon and Jacob agreed on the need to strengthen the border. But they differed greatly on what should be done with illegal immigrants who have already crossed into this country.

Jacob said illegal immigrants should be sent back to their home countries, while Cannon backs a guest-worker program that would allow them to stay in the United States for employment.


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E-mail: lisa@desnews.com