SALT LAKE CITY — Immigration reform is the talk in Washington, D.C., this week, but it's also a big deal in cities across the nation. At the request of the White House, community leaders in Salt Lake met Wednesday to discuss how immigration reform affects the community.

The idea behind the meeting is to be able to feed the state's congressional delegation ideas and concerns their constituents have with immigration reform.

The Salt Lake City meeting included about 30 people representing government, business, law enforcement and other community groups. The group spent about two hours looking into all aspects of how changes to the law can benefit local communities.

"I would say that the theme this revolved around was realizing human potential," said Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker.

The participants broke off into groups and examined areas like improving educational, business and employment opportunities, as well as reducing deportations. A key issue will be gaining the trust of the local immigrant community so they'll become more involved.

Related:

Scare tactics aside, immigration reform strengthens our economy

As the debate over comprehensive immigration reform heats up through the summer, the messages—just like in any political campaign— will grow more divisive. Think of it like an election year, but over an issue rather than candidates.

"I got a sense that we see the immigrant population, and even the undocumented immigrant population, as an essential part of our communities, and as part of our communities that will help us move forward," said Mark Alvarez, lawyer and immigration specialist for Telemundo Utah.

The Senate began debate on the immigration reform bill last week, and there are hundreds of amendments to wade through. In fact, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch just added two new amendments, one of which is designed to strengthen border security.

Those who met to discuss the issue in Utah believe immigration reform is long overdue, but they urged Congress to come up with a law that's workable and make to sure funding is in place to carry it out.

"I think it's critical that they put in place to put in the infrastructure so that we can implement the ideas that came forth from this group here possible," said Summit County Commissioner David Ure.

The participants agreed the final immigration law probably won't please everyone, but Becker said local communities need to be ready to take the next step, no matter how the law ultimately reads.

"We will reconvene and say, ‘How can we make sure our government entities, businesses, organizations are prepared to take advantage of what Congress passes?' " the mayor said.

All of the ideas the group discussed will be complied and sent to Utah delegation in Washington, D.C.

Related topics