Thread: UT-Angry Minutemen protest Utah's guest-worker plan

Angry Minutemen protest Utah's guest-worker plan
By Sheena Mcfarland



Updated: 05/01/2009 04:08:20 PM MDT



Click photo to enlargeAbout 30 Minutemen protesters demonstrate Friday in... (Al Hartmann / The Salt Lake Tribune)«123»About 20 protesters gathered outside of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce building this afternoon to protest the organization's plan for a state-sponsored guest-worker program.

In this year's legislative session, the chamber successfully pushed for S.C.R. 1 to pass, which asked the federal government for waivers for employers to collect the equivalent of federal withholding tax from the paychecks of guest workers to fund the program and provide health insurance for the workers.

Empowering undocumented workers sends a bad message about the value of citizenship, said Eli Cawley, chairman of the Utah Minuteman Project, which organized the event. "We're giving illegals all of our rights without any of the responsibilities," he said.

Establishing such a program would require several federal waivers, and likely would take years to create. The Salt Lake chamber is attempting to get chambers in other states to propose similar programs and then take it to the federal government.

Such programs would put costs back on taxpayers, said Alex Siguera, founder of the Utah Minuteman Project.

"Now is not the time for that, in this economy," he said. "I hope they'll take another look and know that we don't agree with amnesty."

The chamber said it would have no comment on the demonstration.

Latino community activist Tony Yapias said he recognizes the Minutemen's right to protest and calls a state-sponsored guest worker program "the
safest thing to do."

"Every time this comes about, people say 'This is not the right time,' well, when is the right time?" Yapias said. "We need to show that we have the political will to do this."

Others gathered to protest Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank's decision not to enforce an optional provision in S.B. 81, the state's new immigration law scheduled to take effect July 1, that would allow local officers to act like federal immigration agents.

"I'm angry. Illegals are working, foreigners on work visas are working and there's no one to make sure that Americans get jobs first," said Deborah White, who traveled from Payson to protest.

Destiny Payne, a Salt Lake City resident, agrees.

"I'm sick and tired of illegal immigrants taking our jobs," she said. "We have this horrible economy all because of the illegals."

smcfarland@sltrib.com



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Protesters: Close border to keep flu bug out
Health » Officials say immigration has nothing to do with spreading the virus.

By Sheena Mcfarland

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 05/01/2009 09:52:20 PM MDT

Eric Garrett, chairman of the West Valley Minutemen Project, waves to traffic Friday near Liberty Park as a small group sought to counter a larger rally backing immigration reform. (Trent Nelson / The Salt Lake Tribune)

Some Utahns see the H1N1 swine flu alert as another reason to decry the influx of undocumented Latinos. Several attending anti-illegal immigration rallies in Salt Lake City on Friday wore masks and one wore a hazardous materials protective suit to drive home their point.

Health experts say the argument is a fallacy.

"We want our borders closed. We want protection from the health issues that are happening," said Kenna Martin, a Salt Lake City resident who protested with the Utah Minuteman Project. "To keep America contained and to keep this flu from becoming a huge issue is to take the obvious step. We don't need any more people coming up here and infecting people."

That mentality is misguided, said David Sundwall, director of the Utah Department of Health.

"It's absolutely wrong to say that it's an ethnic group or people coming from a country. The number of people living in Mexico that have the flu, while larger than ours, is still a tiny percentage of their population," he said. "And the truth is, the flu is coming into our country from not just Mexicans. It's coming from other people who have traveled elsewhere or maybe been there. To make any association with citizenship or country of birth, I think, is wrong."

That doesn't make Salt Lake City resident Mark Woodgate feel any safer about sending his children to school, as he watched a handful of Latino protesters walk and bike through his demonstration while faking coughs and
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laughing.

"The Latinos here are free to travel to and from Mexico, which means they are free to infect my children," he said. "They're putting my children's health, well-being and future at risk."

Owen Quinonez, the director of the Center for Multicultural Health under the department of health, says closing the borders would be "an ineffective measure."

"We can't put the blame on one person or one country because they got sick first," he said. "We need to help each other right now."

smcfarland@sltrib.com

Heather May contributed to this report.
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