Thread: UT: Bill: Research recovering money lost to illegal immigrat

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/209825/3/

Saturday, February 10, 2007
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NATHAN JOHNSON - Daily Herald
Some Utah legislators are trying to figure out how to force the feds to pony up the cash to pay for illegal immigration costs the state has incurred over the years.

House Bill 320 would direct Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to conduct a study to determine what remedies are available to recover money that the state lost due to illegal immigration.

The goal of the bill would be to recover money spent on providing education, medical assistance, health care and foster care for illegal immigrants; as well as legal costs such as identifying, processing and incarcerating illegals.

Karen Morgan, D-Salt Lake City, says that the bill was inspired by Colorado attempting to seek renumeration for their budgetary burdens caused by illegal immigration.

A spokesman for the Colorado Attorney General's office said that they will be filing a lawsuit against the federal government on March 1 to seek recovery of funds. The spokesman said that despite the voter mandate to file the lawsuit, there was little chance of success.

Colorado will be arguing their suit under the Invasion Clause of the U.S. Constitution in what they call "a very creative" manner; however, several other states have attempted to sue using similar arguments and lost.

This measure will not push Utah as far down the money-recovery track as other states have gone. The bill does not direct the Attorney General to file suit, only to study options to recover funds. Further, Morgan believes that the Attorney General's Office can do the study within the current budget.

Whether or not there are other options the state could consider besides a lawsuit in its recovery efforts is still a question that remains wholly unanswered, even at the Utah Attorney General's office.

Paul Murphy, spokesman for the attorney general, said in an e-mail, "The bill presents questions we don't know how to answer." Additionally, the Attorney General's Office does not know how much it could cost the state to attempt to recover these funds.

Legislators will still have time to debate how they foresee this bill working as it moves to the floor of the House.

HB 320 was passed out of committee unanimously.

HB 320 Recovery of Federal Reimbursement for Costs Associated with Illegal Immigrants, Rep Karen Morgan, D-Salt Lake City. This bill would direct the attorney general to explore the possible avenues for recovering costs incurred by the state due to illegal immigration.

Hold the phone.....I thought these illegal workers were a net gain and a boon to the economy and without them we would perish economically!! What happened?? Have we been duped??? Don't the sales taxes cover this?? I thought all the taxes paid and economic gains far outweighted any costs to society or at least that's what I've been hearing from so many people. Maybe we need to re-think this???

Most importantly, will an "amnesty" solve this problem? Afterward, will these costs plummet??