Immigration enforcement law useless

On March 13, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed Senate Bill 81 into law. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Noel (R-Kanab), specifies, among other things, that Utah law enforcement now has the power to cross-train city police to enforce federal immigration law and deport suspected illegal aliens. Superficially, the law sounds like a dandy idea, as there aren’t enough Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to enforce the law themselves. However, the practical implications of the law run much deeper, and these implications have created quite a controversy between police, state officials and legislators.

Many police agencies in the state, including the Park City and Salt Lake City police forces, are refusing to enforce the new law, and said doing so would undermine their working relationship with the immigrant communities within their respective jurisdictions. That is, these police departments believe that if they begin enforcing immigration laws, illegal immigrants could become fearful to report crimes or cooperate with criminal investigations for fear of being deported.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank has been a vocal opponent of enforcing the new legislation, running what amounts to a media blitz during the course of the week. Speaking to reporters from KSL, The Salt Lake Tribune and Telemundo, Burbank repeatedly emphasized that all members of the community, regardless of immigration status, have equal access to police protection under the law, and that S.B. 81 undermines that protection. Additionally, Burbank points out that the law offers police the opportunity to opt out of immigration enforcement.

In response, Noel said police departments do not have authority to opt out of enforcing the new law, and openly threatened to slash jail reimbursement budgets if the departments do not comply. To complicate matters further, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff chimed in on the subject at a speaking engagement Wednesday. He said the attorney general’s office has the sole authority to force police compliance through S.B. 81, and that as attorney general, he is not inclined to have police officers involved with immigration enforcement, and thus he will not mandate police compliance with the new law.

OK, so are you confused yet?

Yeah, so is everyone else.

The passage of S.B. 81 has created a legal rat’s nest, one that faces challenges and differing interpretations not only from bickering state officials, but from external entities as well. The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah said it is preparing its own legal challenge to the new law. And as the state becomes further embroiled in the S.B. 81 controversy, investing valuable time and energy fighting against itself, one has to scratch one’s head and wonder: “Why?”

Immigration measures like S.B. 81 are, in large part, meaningless. Trying to fight illegal immigration with street enforcement is like trying to fight cancer with painkillers—it treats a symptom, but not an underlying cause. Deportation does little to deter immigration offenders from re-entering the country within a matter of days (sometimes even hours), and the type of enforcement prescribed by S.B. 81 is certainly vulnerable to these same ineffective results. Not to mention there are already laws in Utah concerning the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, making S.B. 81, in many ways, redundant and unnecessary.

If Noel and his constituents are really concerned about fighting illegal immigration, they should be focusing on legislation that either facilitates legal, well-regulated immigration (such as a type of guest-worker program), or addresses the underlying economic causes that spur illegal immigration in the first place (such as penalizing employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens), not passing ineffective laws and threatening the budgets of law enforcement.

Then again, these are politicians we’re talking about. And, despite what I’m sure are their best intentions, it’s hard to tell what they’re really concerned with anymore.

letters@chronicle.utah.edu

12 comments

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Nephi Rodriquez-Smith

Wed Jul 22 2009 00:20

Jeffy

i'm sorry if you feel like an uneducated hick, move away from utah.

cristy

Mon Jun 22 2009 15:09

I;m not LDS member, but with this law in Utah I can see more clearly who really they are when they talk about love to each other, some of them talk only about themselves like white race, not brown or yellow skin, it doesn't matter if you are legal or illegal, you are treated like a second class citizen always, they must stop sending missionaries to another countries lying about a message that here in Utah only few really good LDS americans
put in practice, and avoid receiving the money from the teth from illegal members here in the congregations.

woneveal srenaeb

Sun Jun 21 2009 17:03

I think its time that every one be implanted with the VERI CHIP ID implant. that way we can tell who is legal and who is not. If you do not have the cip you can not buy sell participate in society.

Jo

Wed Jun 17 2009 20:42

Illegal aliens are taking the trade jobs from Utah workers. The wages are dropping for the trades and it is harder to find work because business people are hiring the cheap labor to build our schools and other government buildings. I suppose if you are on the receiving end of big business you don't care that the working poor are getting poorer and our state or Utah and our country is becoming over run by illegals and criminals. I think that "guest workers" should be limited and only available to persons who are not criminals.

Jeff

Mon Jun 1 2009 21:36

CRed,

i'm sorry if you feel like an uneducated hick, move away from utah.

John

Fri May 29 2009 20:38

This is my opinion. It is mostly men who are coming here looking for work, just go to Park City this sanctuary city, per their Mayor. See illegals hanging around the street corners, stores or piled into apartments 10 to a room asking for a donation by the churches for sleeping bags the City looking the other way, fast food restaurants where high-school kids used to work, no more. Hotels where college kids used to be bused up during the ski season, no more.

There was a method of immigration, 100 years ago, one where you were checked for T.B. and other problems, many people were rejected and sent back to their own countries. Tell me why if there are 20,000,000 illegals here they can't go back to Mexico or any of the other Central American or South American country and fight for the change that their coming here for or the oppression my progenitors fought against. Just a thought.

Get Help

Sun Apr 26 2009 19:58

If your daughter has a problem with someone, call the cops. Document everything that happens. If anyone threatens to kidnap a child and take them out of the country then call the FBI, write letters to government officials explaining the situation, tell them you will release all letters to the media if anything happens to the child; they will never be reelected if that happens. Get ICE involved if the person is in the country illegally. But don't become a bigot and support the profiling of a whole group of people because of one person. Do not let anyone hurt your daughter, go to the authorities.

Sabrina

Sun Apr 26 2009 10:09

So what do you do when your daughter has gotten mixed up with an illegal alien and has a baby with him? He beats on her, threatens to take your grandchild to mexico if she leaves him and on and on? I haven't been able to find help.

CRed

Mon Apr 13 2009 14:35

Thanks for this article. SB 81 is a racist law. It was written unnecessarily because federal law already covers this. You must understand that being undocumented is NOT a CRIMINAL violation of law but a CIVIL violation of law. There is a huge difference. Not only does the law hurt people it hurts businesses that have benefited from inexpensive labor. Our food prices go up when immigrants leave, this hurts everyone. This bill only lends to the appearance that Utahns hate minorities and it hurts our image as a state. Tell people outside of Utah that you are a from Utah. They give you a look like you just spit in their coffee. We look like a bunch of uneducated hicks.

Look at the food on your plate every day and remember an American agribusiness owns the food company and immigrants harvested it for cheap so you can afford it.

Big Pete

Mon Apr 13 2009 12:54

I must say that you have written a very well thought out opinion piece. While I do not agree with all that you say, your comments about not fighting the symptoms are right on target. But the causes are complex dealing with a myriad of issues involving global trade agreements, free markets, fulfilling our historical need for cheap labor and maximizing profits, poverty, technologies that have turned traditional food staples into expensive alternative fuels, and sharing a large border with a third-world nation. There are more that I could add as well to the list.

SB 81 is a mean-spirited cheap, generic band-aid that attends only to the fears of the problems.

Your name

Mon Apr 13 2009 11:14

Very well-written!

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