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SALT LAKE CITY -- Salt Lake City's police chief and mayor are getting blasted by hateful e-mails and calls over their position on immigration.
Police Chief Chris Burbank visited Washington D.C. last week and called President Barack Obama's address on immigration "spot on." Burbank also has criticized Arizona's immigration law.
Related:
Feds to file lawsuit over Arizona immigration law
The U.S. Justice Department is filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's new law targeting illegal immigrants, setting the stage for a clash between the federal government and state over the nation's toughest immigration crackdown.Since then, hate mail has been flowing into City Hall.
"I hear it, and I know you do, every day from people who have concerns for various reasons about immigration," Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker told KSL's Doug Wright Tuesday.
Like Burbank, Becker said he does not like the attempt by some state lawmakers to import the Arizona law.
"We are casting those people into a different light, and we're putting them into a position, really, of fear," Becker said.
The mayor's office says two-thirds of the mostly-negative feedback has come from outside Salt Lake City. Some of it, Becker said, is insulting.
"It is wrong-minded. I think it is anti-American," Becker said.
E-mail: athomas@ksl.com
