Thread: "E-mail from Herbert's Lacky!"

March 30, 2011

Dear james:

Thank you for your message regarding the issue of illegal immigration in Utah. I appreciate your taking time to share your thoughts.

Unfortunately, many of the problems we face today have been decades in the making. For too long, the federal government has failed to secure our borders and has not developed a meaningful national immigration policy. Consequently, the number of immigrants who are in the United States illegally is creating societal challenges and costs that simply must be addressed.

Last summer Governor Herbert convened a summit to lay a foundation for a Utah solution to the challenge of illegal immigration. Stakeholders from all sides of this complex issue came together to discuss options.

During the 2011 Legislative Session, our Utah Legislature crafted a unique Utah solution through a package of complementary bills - each approaches certain aspects of the immigration challenge. Governor Herbert has expressed a desire to see our State take a thoughtful and rational approach to immigration reform. He has assessed each bill on its merits and checked it against the guiding principles outlined last year:
1. LAW - There must be respect for the law. The Utah solution must acknowledge that U.S. citizenship - by birth or grant - requires reverence for and adherence to the law;
2. FEDS - the federal government has a responsibility to secure our borders, to enforce immigration laws, and to draft meaningful immigration policy. The federal government must act;
3. PRIVATE SECTOR - There must be greater accountability from the private sector. Businesses must be responsible for establishing hiring practices that comply with the law to verify legal documentation of ALL workers;
4. HUMANITY - The Utah solution should recognize and respect the humanity of all people. Immigration reform efforts must be fair, colorblind and race-neutral.
5. ENFORCEMENT - We must provide appropriate tools for law enforcement. The Utah solution must give law enforcement officers the ability, through resources and training, to enforce the law and to keep our communities safe;
6. TAXPAYERS - We must relieve the burden on taxpayers...........our Utah communities, and our taxpayers, cannot be expected to bear this financial burden.

Based on the six principles outlined above, Governor Herbert signed HB 497, HB 466, HB 116 and HB 469.

HB 497: Provides the enforcement component of the immigration reform package:
1. Replaces the "reasonable suspicion" standard that many thought would lead to racial profiling;
2. Does not lead to a "papers please" system where everyone has to carry identification with them. A police officer only has to check immigration status if a person does not have ID AND the officer is otherwise unable to verify identity (in other words, cannot find the person in the driver license and other electronic databases.)
3. It also, except in the case of suspected human trafficking, limits the immigration check to the person who is the subject of the investigation. This lessons the concern that undocumented aliens will not report crime for fear of having their status checked.

HB 466: Provides for an advisory commission, as well as a pilot migrant worker program with the Mexican State of Nuevo Leon.
1. Creates the Utah Commission on Immigration and Migration;
2. This Commission, on which the Governor or Lieutenant Governor serves as chair, has 27 members who are tasked with advising the Governor on how best to establish a comprehensive and sustainable immigration policy;
3. It also empowers the Commission to negotiate a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State of Nuevo Leon in Mexico;
4. Under the MOU, Utah and Nuevo Leon will facilitate the legal movement of migrant workers from Nuevo Leon to Utah under the Migrant Worker Visa Pilot Program;
5. The bill requires that a Utah business who wants to hire an alien through the pilot project demonstrate that there are not sufficient legal workers in the area to fill the jobs.

HB 116: Guest Worker Program
1. It allows the Governor a platform to negotiate with the federal government and to push them to action. We are moving forward with this bill because it is part of a larger immigration strategy;
2. The guest worker permit will not be a "get out of jail" free card. If you are the type of alien that ICE is willing and able to deport, the guest worker permit will not prevent that from happening;
3. The bill recognizes the reality that there are illegal aliens in our State, the majority of whom the federal government lacks the willingness or the resources to deport;
4. We are asking the federal government to let us run a program so that we can at least know who is here and working within our borders;
5. To get a guest worker permit, the alien will have to undergo a background check and be fingerprinted. It will help us detect those who are serious criminals who ICE will deport. It will also make Utah less attractive to those serious criminals because they will be unable to work without a guest worker permit;
6. It should reduce identity theft because illegal aliens will be able to get a guest worker permit under their own names;
7. The guest worker program will allow us to seek a waiver to put teeth into e-Verify as currently we cannon Constitutionally impose a financial penalty for a failure to use the system.

HB 469: Utah Pilot Sponsored Resident Immigration Program
1. Like HB 497, this law will be unconstitutional if we are unable to procure a waiver from the federal government.
2. Because this is in essence establishing a visa category for people coming to Utah, on a practical level, it cannot function without the waiver because people entering the country will not be able to get past immigration and customs officials without a change in federal law requiring the federal government to recognize the Utah permit as an entry document.
3. The best that can be said for this program is that it gives us another option to take to federal government when we seek waivers.

Governor Herbert commends the legislators and leaders for their courage and vision, for their hard work and focus. He notes that we have created a unique UTAH solution because it is time to act and time to motivate the federal government to act. He believes these four bills will be a framework for a national conversation and a means to engage the federal government.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide this clarification on the immigration bills passed in the 2011 Legislative Session.

Sincerely, Nancy Neilson
Constituent Services

"What a Crock!"

What a crock is right!!

Take away the guest workers program, all other immigration laws enacted will be accepted.