Immigration politics
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1 comment [ View ]Frustration with the feds finally won out this year at Utah's Capitol. Lots of Utahns are irritated that Uncle Sam hasn't done much to deal with illegal immigration, and state lawmakers -- most will be running for re-election in the fall -- decided to toss those disgruntled Utahns a bone.
In the process, they're putting pressure on Utah law enforcement and pivate business to do what Congress and the federal authorities have not.
Senate Bill 81, which does not take effect until 2009, has been billed as a comprehensive immigration bill. It's not quite that, but it does wrap a lot of items related to illegal immigration into a single bundle. For example:
* It requires county sheriffs to make an effort to determine whether inmates are legal residents of the United States.
* It requires that "identification documents" that are "issued by public entities (that) go only to United States citizens, nationals, or legal permanent resident aliens with certain exceptions."
* It forces "public employers to register with and use a Status Verification System to verify the federal authorization status of a new employee." Furthermore, it "provides that a public employer may not enter into a contract for the physical performance of services within the state with a contractor unless the contractor registers and participates in the Status Verification System to verify the work eligibility status of the contractor's new employees."
* It makes it illegal to fire or otherwise "discharge a lawful employee while retaining an unauthorized alien in the same job category."
* If the funding is available, SB 81 requires that the attorney general must create a "Fraudulent Documents Identification Unit ... for the primary purpose of investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting individuals" who sell or distribute false IDs.
* It further instructs the attorney general's office to "negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Department of Justice or the United States Department of Homeland Security for the enforcement of federal immigration and customs laws within the state by state and local law enforcement personnel."
* And it makes it illegal to "conceal, harbor, or shelter from detection an alien, in a place within this state for commercial advantage or private financial gain, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the alien is in the United States in violation of federal law."
That's quite the laundry list. But the Legislature has left itself an out: Since it won't be implemented until midway through 2009, lawmakers could refine, repeal or rethink sections of the law -- which Gov. Jon Huntsman will almost surely endorse; he's up for re-election this year, too. We hope they do just that, removing the burden on county law enforcement to perform the functions that federal immigration officials should be carrying out. And businesses are complaining that the Status Verification System is prone to error. If that's the case, it'll be a nightmare for those businesses attempting to comply.
Furthermore, it'll be interesting to hear what the attorney general's office thinks about the Legislature telling it what to do. There might be some separation-of-powers issues in question.
As we've noted before, all this amounts to more frustration-venting than sound public policy.
Our locals get frustrated with the Feds. So instead of doing something about holding the Feds they can accountable, they countenance state lawmakers taking Federal jurisdictional matters into their own hands. Why not just send Orin, Bob, Chris, Jim, and Rob packing? Obviously, the Federal elected officials, with all of their experience, tenure, and influence haven't had the will or the power to do what needs doing, even considering that most, if not all of them have been in D.C. long enough to help mess up immigration as it is. Now the least powerful, most silent, and exploited group in our society have to suffer for it. It doesn’t make sense to me. Does it to you?