Thread: Utah Congress?: State immigration legislation is a bad idea

Utah Congress?: State immigration legislation is a bad idea

If you've ever felt like telling someone to just SHUUUUUUUUUUT UP, this would be it:

Utah Congress?: State immigration legislation is a bad idea
Tribune Editorial
Article Last Updated: 02/21/2008 07:07:42 PM MST

Utah Senate Bill 81, a formerly comprehensive anti-immigration bill, has gone from worse to bad. It would be good if it disappeared entirely. Good for our economy, good for Utah businesses, good for humanity.

Immigration laws are a federal affair, best handled on Capitol Hill in Washington, not Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City. But, mistaking themselves for Congress, Utah lawmakers have introduced approximately 20 immigration measures, none more insidious than the original version of SB81.

Introduced by Sen. John "Bill" Hickman, R-St. George, the bill was patterned after a disastrous Oklahoma law and lauded as a worthy substitute for federal immigration reform. The most objectionable sections included penalties for persons and organizations that assist undocumented immigrants, and employers who unwittingly hire them.

But, after lobbying by business leaders, who believed the misguided measure could hurt the state's economy, and religious leaders, who feared they would run afoul of the law if they provided food, clothing and other charitable services to undocumented residents, the bill is being revised to remove most of its teeth.

A provision that would have repealed in-state college tuition rates for children of undocumented residents, essentially punishing promising children for the acts of their parents, has been removed. And senators say that sections that would turn churches, humanitarian organizations and unwitting businesses into criminal operations for assisting and hiring undocumented immigrants are on their way out.

Still, the bill would enlist state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws, a proposal that would shatter bonds between the immigrant communities and police officers, who rely on the cooperation of victims and witnesses to do their jobs. And it contains nuisance provisions that would make it more difficult for undocumented residents to live and work here, and continue to make valuable contributions to our culture and economy.

Lawmakers should set this bill aside. If they feel compelled to dally in federal affairs, legislators need to shift their support to Senate Bill 97, the only reasonable immigration-related bill introduced this session. The measure would create a bipartisan "immigration task force" to carefully study issues relating to immigration, and deliberately determine what role, if any, the state should play.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_8328630

Still, the bill would enlist state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws, a proposal that would shatter bonds between the immigrant communities and police officers, who rely on the cooperation of victims and witnesses to do their jobs. And it contains nuisance provisions that would make it more difficult for undocumented residents to live and work here, and continue to make valuable contributions to our culture and economy.

Well hey now, I'm sure they'll welcome the illegal fleeing from Arizona and Oklahoma. When they suck them completely dry, it'll serve UTah right.

This guy obviously does not get it...the bill is MEANT to make it more difficult for illegals to live and work here! They don't make any valuable contributions to the economy, they TAKE.