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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah's U.S. senators told the Legislature on Tuesday that changes to federal immigration laws won't occur until after the next president takes office -- and possibly longer.
The comments come as the Republican-controlled Legislature considers a pack of bills in response to what some see as Congress' failure to act on illegal immigration.
Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett did not address any of the state bills. Instead, in their annual address to the Legislature, they assured lawmakers that Congress wouldn't make any changes soon.
"I think the prediction it may be as long as five years is probably true," Bennett said.
Some state lawmakers have been reluctant to impose more restrictions on illegal immigrants because of possible changes in federal laws.
Lawmakers are considering eliminating in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, repealing a driving privilege card that allows them to drive and buy insurance, and making it illegal to knowingly transport illegal immigrants.
The Senate planned to debate a sweeping immigration bill Tuesday, modeled after an Oklahoma law, but pushed it to Thursday.
Bennett and Hatch illustrate the difficulty in reaching a consensus in Congress. Bennett supported a bill sponsored by Republican presidential candidate John McCain, an Arizona senator, that would have granted legal status to millions of people living illegally in the U.S.
Hatch opposed it. "That bill was a disaster," Hatch said Tuesday.
Bennett said he's received numerous complaints from farmers and other rural employers that efforts to secure the Mexican border have made it difficult to find workers.
"I have people coming to me and saying the crops are rotting in the fields," he said.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
