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SALT LAKE CITY — At a hearing on his proposed guest worker program for illegal immigrants, a colleague asked Rep. Bill Wright if he would address whether his plan provided amnesty.
"I would if you would define amnesty," the Holden Republican replied. "What is the definition of amnesty?"
Indeed, an agreed upon meaning of the A-word is elusive on Capitol Hill. Amnesty comes up in nearly every illegal immigration debate.
Anything that allows for illegal immigrants to stay is amnesty regardless of what 'fine' is paid,
–Rep. Chris Herrod
Wright started and stopped in several attempts to answer the question, eventually saying it's not a "pathway." Presumably he meant not a pathway to citizenship.
"This provides security as long as you're working," he said of his HB116.
Rep. Chris Herrod, R-Provo, devotes an entire chapter to amnesty in his book "The Forgotten Immigrant."
"The truth is that anything that allows for illegal immigrants to stay is amnesty regardless of what 'fine' is paid," he wrote. "If the fine is less than the 'benefit' then illegal aliens will simply look at the fine as the cost of breaking the law. If citizenship can be 'purchased' by a measly fine then who would not gladly pay it and break the law."
None of the guest worker-type plans under consideration in Utah provide any way for undocumented workers to become citizens.
If it's just a free pass then certainly it's amnesty. If there's two years of military service and you pay a fine, learn English and get in the back of the line and you're repentant, it's probably not amnesty.
–Gov. Gary Herbert
"I'm not enacting immigration law and I'm not adjusting status on anybody," Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake, says about her call for accountability and state-issued work permits in SB60.
While attempting to share their definitions, some of those heavily involved in the discussion and who shape any illegal immigration laws in Utah offered up a dictionary entry for amnesty and an explanation.
Sutherland Institute head Paul Mero cited dictionary.com: a general pardon for offenses, especially political offenses, against a government, often granted before trial or conviction.
By that definition, he said, Sen. Luz Robles' proposal for guest worker permits is not amnesty. SB60 has stiff requirements and fees associated with getting a permit. It doesn’t change anyone's legal status.
"It's not a get-out-of-jail-free card," he said.
The bill does not protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.
"If SB60 represents amnesty, so does every driver who exceed the speed limit, doesn't get caught, doesn't turn themselves in, and every legislator who doesn't act immediately to stop every Utahn from speeding," Mero said.
In a news release blasting guest worker programs as amnesty, Reps. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, and Herrod, cited the American Oxford Dictionary definition: an undertaking by authorities to take no action against specific offenses or offenders.
That is the second entry for amnesty in that dictionary. The first reads: an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offenses.
Sandstrom says that's what a guest worker program does. Illegal immigrants, he argues, have violated U.S. immigration law by entering the country and being in the country, so it would be an affront to the rule of law to allow them work.
"Amnesty is for law enforcement to selectively not enforce the law for a select group," he said.
Gov. Gary Herbert didn't go to the dictionary when asked his definition and whether in his mind a guest worker program is amnesty.
"It could be amnesty and it may not be amnesty. It depends on how you formulate it. What is the pathway?
"If there's no punishment and if it's just a free pass then certainly it's amnesty. If there's two years of military service and you pay a fine, learn English and get in the back of the line and you're repentant, it's probably not amnesty. I think it’s a healthy debate."
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com
