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SALT LAKE CITY -- Saturday is a National Day of Action for immigration rights supporters, as they push for sensible, comprehensive immigration reform at events in Salt Lake City and across the country.
Nerves are on edge, and the rhetoric is only heating up with Arizona's controversial new law, which some lawmakers are trying to bring to Utah.
Some Latinos in the Salt Lake Valley, who were born and raised as U.S. citizens in Utah, are worried this may come back to bite their families.
In Taylorsville, Celina Milner has had to discuss with her children that they could be asked for their papers on a family trip to the Grand Canyon.
"We have been citizens for generations, but we have dark hair; we have dark eyes; we absolutely look the part, and we're going to be questioned," Milner told KSL Newsradio.
Milner says she can't believe Utah lawmakers want to create a law similar to the one in Arizona.
"I'm scared, I'm very scared," she said.
Naturalized citizens like Ernesto Segura share the same fears. In his case, he has been legally in this country for 20 years.
"Just profiling me because I'm Hispanic, that bothers me," Segura said. "We are all human beings."
Proyecto Latino de Utah director Tony Yapias has been slammed with concerned calls, texts and e-mails.
"It's having an impact on everything, mentally, physically," Yapias said.
Yapias is so frustrated that he is threatening to urge Latinos not to vote this fall.
"I will say publicly right now we will stay home," he told KSL.
Yapias' idea is if Democrats can't come up with what he considers responsible reform legislation for this nation, they'll lose a lot of Hispanic votes. He concedes he doesn't know what he will do if far-right Republicans take those spots.
"Sometimes we start talking a little bit irrational about this issue, but the main point is we need to come back to the issue: Is it states' rights, or is it the federal government's responsibility?" Yapias says.
Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, says it is Utah's turn to enforce immigration laws because the federal government is doing nothing.
"Utah needs to be at the forefront of this discussion," Wimmer told KSL-TV Monday. "We cannot tolerate illegal immigration."
Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Provo, is drafting a bill for the 2011 legislative session. One of the issues he is looking at is how to enforce this kind of law without racially profiling people. His idea is to treat it like a secondary offense.
"You know, upon investigating this person for shoplifting, you ask for ID," Sandstrom said.
Some of the local clergy aren't sold.
"We're dealing with human beings, human beings who are striving to make a living for themselves, to keep their families together," said The Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of the Salt Lake City Catholic Dioceses.
The Utah Minuteman Project has a few reservations, although founder Alex Segura says he is in favor of a similar law here.
"The profiling issue, that needs to be clarified," he said.
Segura tells KSL Newsradio he doesn't want to see the state turn into a safe haven for illegal immigrants fleeing Arizona, which is part of his motivation for supporting the passage of a similar law.
"States have a right and a duty to the citizens to step up and protect them," Segura said.
Community activists like Michael Clara say they still don't know what it will mean. Clara fears it will be a "paper bag" test.
"Let's give all the officers a brown paper bag and say, 'If their skin color is darker than the brown paper bag, then you stop ‘em,'" Clara explained.
Clara predicts legal challenges may halt the Arizona law before it becomes an issue for the 2011 legislature.
Meanwhile, Yapias says Saturday's rally will be held at Centro Civico in Salt Lake. It starts at 1 p.m., but organizers are asking people to arrive by noon.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
