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Senate Bill 81 cracks down on illegal immigrants by affecting jobs and benefits. It's scheduled to go into effect in July, but now some lawmakers are having second thoughts.
Hammering out the bill's details was a tough job to begin with. It was revised several times and became the subject of rallies and debates before lawmakers agreed it would take effect July 2009.
The committee agreed to study the bill's issues, but even now, there are a lot of unanswered questions. "Even after a year of hearings, we really still do not have good numbers that tell us the effect of illegal immigration on this state," said Rep. Stephen Clark.
The heart of SB81 is that it requires employers verify an employee's U.S. citizenship. It also prohibits illegal immigrants from getting public financial or housing assistance and allows local police to engage or partner with federal officials on immigration enforcement.
There are a lot of people who strongly feel an illegal immigrant crackdown is already overdue. "Utah has done quite a bit to encourage illegal aliens; giving them driver's privilege cards and state tuition for many, many years. So, we're finally coming to the balance point," said Robert Wren, with Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement.
But a number of factors may affect any immigration legislation going forward; economic realities, for one, and a renewed fight for new laws based on facts and figures and not emotion and assumption.
"Words hurt, and the way they toss around the words 'them' and 'those people' and 'illegals,' they impact the whole Hispanic community, because we all become suspect," said Mike Martinez, who opposes SB81.
Ultimately, Congress has to take action on immigration. The question is whether the new administration is enough to get that to happen.
Even though immigration as an issue has take a back seat to the economy in the spotlight, there's little doubt the Utah Legislature will revisit the issue this upcoming session.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
