Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has reversed his stand on possibly prosecuting people on an anonymously released list of illegal immigrants purportedly living in the state. Shurtleff's office confirmed Friday that Utah's Workforce Services released information to the attorney general's office stating that some of the Social Security numbers on the long list, sent out last month to public officials and media outlets, may not be legitimate and could prompt investigatory action.
"We are committed to finishing up our investigation into whether any state laws were broken in the release and distribution of private and protected records before we take a separate look at whether state laws may have been broken with potentially fraudulent Social Security numbers," wrote Paul Murphy, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.
The 30-page document has 1,300 names described as illegal immigrants. The list includes private information such as the Social Security information, phone numbers and pregnancy due dates. The unknown sender also describes illegal activity involving the use of Social Security numbers.
Two state employees have been accused by state officials of releasing the list.
But Shurtleff said repeatedly in the days before his office was given data from Gov. Gary Herbert's initial investigation that Shurtleff would not act against the people named in the documents.
"We are not investigating the people on the list. We are concerned about the abuse of privacy laws," Shurtleff said in a July 16 news conference.
Murphy updated the office's stand on the issue and said the initial focus of the attorney general's investigation was, and is, on the leaked records.
"The attorney general knew the list was originally given to ICE (federal officials) and was not aware that there might be some state laws broken. (On July 29) Workforce Services released information that some of the Social Security numbers may not be legitimate," Murphy wrote to answer a Standard-Examiner question.
Yet Shurtleff, on July 19, said he had seen the list in which the unknown sender writes about various violations. He also answered a reporter's question about Social Security numbers on the list.
The reversal comes after requests by the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and others that federal officials not act on the list.
"I was distressed to hear this. If information released inappropriately and illegally gets used ... it further erodes people's confidence in government," ACLU of Utah Executive Director Karen McCreary said about Shurtleff's investigation.
The ACLU of Utah announced last week it had joined with 120 other organizations and individuals, including former Ogden City Councilman Jesse Garcia, to urge the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to avoid the investigative use of the list.
But Ron Mortensen, a spokesman for the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, believes Utah's law enforcement community should use it.
"They must stop granting illegal aliens virtual immunity from these major felonies in order to build good relations with the illegal immigrant community," writes Mortensen, who also is chairman of the group called Citizens for Tax Fairness.
The unknown sender of the list, in a letter attached to the documents, called for the deportation of people who may be illegal aliens.
John Morton, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, admitted on July 19 his agency received the list but that the initial assessment was that it was not to be used to conduct an investigation or an enforcement action.
State officials said they are still figuring out what exactly they might do with the data they have received, but do call it a criminal investigation.
"We still don't know if any state laws were broken," Murphy added, "and this is all a good reason why we will not be commenting until the investigation is complete."
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