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SALT LAKE CITY -- The state of Utah is using almost $900,000 of federal stimulus money to crack down on major crimes committed by illegal immigrants.
A new strike force, headed up by the Attorney General's Office, will target crimes like human trafficking, drug dealing and document fraud.
This is a strike force that targets major crime committed by illegal immigrants--not to crack down on illegal immigrants themselves.
The Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says it's an important distinction to address some serious and growing problems in Utah.
The strike force would zero in on situations like the high-volume drug dealers in Salt Lake City earlier this year, where 11 illegal immigrants were arrested.
This newly-created strike force can zero in on things like this exclusively. Shurtleff explained, "They are undocumented aliens who come here to commit crime, to violate state law, to deal in violent crime, gang-banging, drug dealing and human trafficking."
Shurtleff says Utah has problems with human trafficking and fraud that need attention; that's why the Legislature created the strike force this year. "This strike force will protect Utahns from some of the most serious crimes in our state," says Shurtleff. "These criminals often target members of the Hispanic community and we will do everything possible to make it stop."
The victims are both legal and illegal immigrants themselves, and that makes this task force unique in its scope. House Majority Whip Rep. Brad Dee said, "Those are all people who are mostly, if not predominately, illegal in the state of Utah, so they prey on the immigrants."
But doing this job will require a level of trust from the immigrant community, and that could be a challenge.
A member of the Latino-Hispanic Advisory council told KSL the strike force will take that on too. Carlos Linares, a member of the Hispanic Latino Advisory Council, said, "Having individuals trust in them that, you know, we're not here, if you give us information, we're not going to throw the book at you, we're here to get the big fish if you will."
This group went out of its way to point out that this is different than the soon-to-be law Senate Bill 81, which basically attempts to crack down on illegal immigrants just for being here.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
