Thread: Utah lawmakers talking immigration in Arizona

Utah lawmakers talking immigration in Arizona

Joe Pyrah - Daily Herald Daily Herald | Posted: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 8:16 pm

Brad Daw wants to crack down on illegal immigration, but he doesn't know yet quite how to do it.

Daw, a state representative from Orem, is in Arizona this week visiting the U.S.-Mexico border and speaking to people on both sides of the debate.

"The stats were wildly different between the two groups. That's something we're going to have to reconcile," said Daw who with Orem Sen. Margaret Dayton are on the trip with 10 other lawmakers and the lieutenant governor.

On Monday, they met with Arizona lawmakers who earlier this year passed a controversial immigration enforcement bill. Parts of that bill have already been blocked by a federal judge. They also met with lawmakers and groups that oppose the bill. The various perspectives have sparked debate among Utah lawmakers.

"We've had some very in-depth and intense conversation about what we've seen. And that's just the beginning," Daw said.

Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, has proposed a bill similar to Arizona's though it excludes several of the more controversial aspects. Sandstrom's bill would require law enforcement officers to check the legal status of individuals who have been stopped for a separate offense if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they aren't in the country legally. It also gives citizens the ability to sue police agencies that choose not to enforce the law.

During a roundtable discussion organized by Gov. Gary Herbert in July, lawmakers also talked about instituting a guest-worker program at the state level.

Daw hopes to use the two-day trip for perspective when the immigration debate hits home during next year's legislative session. There's one thing he's sure of after the trip.

"It's not a simple problem," he said. "That's pretty trite, and I apologize for that. But it's not a simple cut-and-dried problem."

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Our Utah leaders are gutless. We all know that the Mormon Church makes the decisions for the state, and they want amnesty.