Utah House committee approves illegal immigrant guest worker bill

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Utah House committee approves illegal immigrant guest worker bill
SALT LAKE CITY — A proposed guest worker program for illegal immigrants has some of Utah's most conservative folks lining up behind it, while some of the more liberal types staked a position against it.
At a House committee meeting Tuesday on Rep. Bill Wright's HB116, ranchers and farmers, including former state legislator Dave Ure, testified the bill would provide them much needed labor.
"In today's society, you cannot find anyone to work on farms," said Ure, a Kamas dairy owner. "There's not two kids at South Summit High School who know which end of a pitchfork to lean on."
ACLU policy analyst Esperanza Granados told the House Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Committee that the bill is unconstitutional. Furthermore, she said a guest worker program doesn't guarantee undocumented workers won't be deported.
"This creates a false sense of hope for those individuals who would apply for this permit," she said.
Though committee members agreed that there are constitutional issues with the bill, they moved it forward by 6-1 vote to continue debate on the House floor.
Rep. Dean Sanpei, R-Provo, said HB116 creates a situation where undocumented workers would be OK in Utah, but illegal in the country. "To me, that sets up a constitutional conflict."
Wright, R-Holden, said the proposal is driven by Americans unwillingness to do menial jobs.
"Walk through the basement (of the Capitol) at 4:30 or 5 in the morning and see who's setting up the tables. It's not your kids. It's not my kids," he said.
Ron Mortensen, founder of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, took issue with Wright's suggestion that American workers are unproductive and won't do certain jobs. Americans, he said, work hard as long as their employers value them and pay decent wages.
HB116 is among several illegal immigration bills wending their way through the Legislature. Unlike two others that have some traction, this one does not focus on enforcement. It provides a means for undocumented immigrants to legally work in the state.
Wright said Utah needs to step up because the federal government has failed. "Anything we do with this bill is better than what we do now," he said.
The bill would create two types of permits — a guest worker permit and an immediate family permit. The latter would allow the undocumented worker's spouse and unmarried children under age 21 to be in the country lawfully. Applicants would have to undergo a criminal background check and be fingerprinted. Those found with criminal records would be referred to law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Utah Department of Workforce Services would administer the program. DWS would set an application fee and if the applicant doesn’t have basic health insurance it would include a $750 fine. Permits would be good for two years.
Legislative fiscal analysts estimate the program would cost DWS $2.8 million to start but generate $11.5 million annually in income tax for the state education fund.
Wright said the bill would not offer amnesty, which he defines as a pathway to citizenship. "This provides security as long as you're working," he said.
Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, said he's been frustrated at his colleagues' tendency to use legislation to throw rocks at the federal government. "This is one where I'm right there with some of my colleagues," he said.
Any guest worker system would require a federal waiver to implement, which some say won't happen.
"Federal immigration law does not provide for a waiver," said attorney Mark Alvarez.
HB116 has a provision making it effective in 2013 regardless of federal approval.
Litvack said that gives him "heartburn," but supports the bill because, unlike other illegal immigration measures, it recognizes human beings.
"There is a very humane side to this legislation," he said.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...bill.html?pg=2
Utah immigration bill seeks middle ground in debate
In state legislatures across the country, most of the immigration bills being debated aim to crack down on illegal immigration. Legislators are trying to cut off illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits, deny their U.S.-born children citizenship and force them out of states by granting local police the power to enforce immigration laws. One bill filed in Utah is being viewed as the possible middle ground that has proven so elusive in a hyper-charged immigration discussion.
The Utah bill, known as the Pilot Accountability Permit Program, would grant work permits to illegal immigrants so they could legally work in the state but would require them to undergo criminal background checks, pay taxes and take English classes, and it would force them to leave the state if they lose their jobs.
Under the legislation, the state would report illegal immigrants who commit a major crime to the federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency.
"It is very rare," Eric Rodriguez, vice president of public policy for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights group, said of the bill. "It just feels more meaningful than what we've seen in other states."
The bill was co-sponsored by state Sen. Luz Robles, a Democrat, and state Rep. Jeremy Peterson, a Republican, and has the backing of a conservative think tank in Utah.
Paul Mero, director of the conservative Sutherland Institute, said he became disheartened by the dozens of bills flowing through the Utah Capitol and other state legislatures that focused on trying to catch and deport illegal immigrants. He said the immigration system needs to be fixed by Congress, but meanwhile, Utah should focus on constructive ways to deal with the 110,000 illegal immigrants living in the state.
"You really have two paths," Mero said. "The one path leads to rounding them up or starving them out. Or, you can actually go down this other path of rationality and practicality."
Even though it has bipartisan support in Utah, it is receiving bipartisan criticism from outside.
Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which supports a path for some illegal immigrants to become citizens, was pleased by the general direction of the bill, but worried that some of the enforcement portions of the bill may go too far.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates lower levels of immigration, said the core of the bill is unconstitutional because states cannot regulate immigration numbers.
He called the bill "de facto amnesty" and considered it a political gesture since it has little chance of surviving legal challenges.
Robles acknowledged that her proposal delves into uncharted legal territory and said that the state would need a waiver from the federal government to implement it.
Even so, she said she is confident the legislation would survive constitutional challenges since it doesn't alter the immigration status of illegal immigrants and her state has been providing driver's licenses for illegal immigrants for years.
Robles said legislators from six states have inquired about the bill. And no matter the outcome of her bill, she said she hopes it changes the tone of the national immigration debate.
"People are realizing that the extremes are just not going to work," Robles said. "You're seeing a shift on how people are talking about this issue."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...htm?csp=34news
Utah lawmakers report threats over immigration law
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Two Utah state lawmakers backing bills that would fight illegal immigration say they've received possible death threats.
Republican Rep. Stephen Sandstrom of Orem says the Utah Highway Patrol is investigating an e-mail sent Sunday that includes references to assassination and violent revolution.
It includes images of Che Guevara and an AK-47 and decries the "racist" state of Utah.
Sandstrom is the sponsor of an Arizona-style immigration enforcement law. He says his car has been vandalized twice in the past week.
Republican Rep. Chris Herrod of Provo says he also received the e-mail. Herrod is sponsoring a bill that would punish employers who hire illegal immigrants.
The e-mail says it's from a group called the United Front for Defense of Immigrants.
The sender didn't immediately respond to an e-mail from The Associated Press.
http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=14035317

[Ayatollahgondola]

So they're writing their own immigration bill. Imagine that; A state writing an immigration bill that doesn't inspire a lawsuit from the feds, mexico, MALDEF, etc.