There are a few bills proposed right now in the Utah Legislature that have effects on immigration, families, and our communities. SB81 is a bill designed to require companies that contract with the state to verify immigration status of employees and would allow for local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law. The bill was passed into law last year and is set to take effect on July 1st of this year. Representative Stephen Clark from Utah County has suggested a bill that would postpone the implementation of this bill and fund research to assess the impacts of the implementation of SB81. The study’s design is intended to see the fiscal impacts of immigration in five, ten, and twenty-five years.
There is also another proposed that would take away driving priveleges as of Dec 31st 2009 of all undocumented immigrants. There are many effects that these could have.
I would at least like to see the impact research be done before we make any laws or policies. A few years ago there was a bill designed to do the same thing as Representative Clark is suggesting, that we study the economic impact to decide how much immigration is hurting or helping our economy. It didn't go through but has been proposed again. I know there are many arguments for and against immigration, and I know that something needs to be done, but before we throw the baby out with the bathwater maybe we should look at the cost and benefits.
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Yes, yes, yes! I agree. I think there are a lot more benefits to having immigrants in the country than we think. We can try as hard as we want to make them disappear (no more driving, etc) but they will still be here, and they will still find ways to do what they are doing. Let's not burden our law enforcement or the families of immigrants by passing yet another bill. Last time I checked most of us don't want to be doing the work they do anyway. Instead, we should do just what has been proposed. Lets see how much these immigrants help our economy before sending them away, potentially causing much more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteI tend to be a little more in favor of is H.B. 64 that focuses "its efforts on detecting, investigating, deterring, and eradicating violent and other major criminal activity related to illegal immigration and human trafficking." These, in my opinion, are the critical issues when it comes to immigration at present. Why are we focusing on the countless numbers who are living peaceably among us, contributing to the rich culture of our communities and contributing to the health of the economy? Doesn't it make more sense to focus on those that are causing harm?
ReplyDeleteOf course with this bill as well, an impact analysis is definitely needed prior to implementation.
I would have to agree with Jessica. So many times we hear on the news the bad things that are happening around the country and a good share of the time, the 'crime committers' are illegal immigrants. But, on the other hand; the 9-11 attackers lived here peaceably for many years and no one suspected what they were capable of; so would studying either population be effective or would the studies be a waste of time and money? My question would be Why are we giving illegal immigrants special treatment? Aren't we just rewarding their behavior by allowing them the privileges that citizens should be enjoying?
ReplyDeleteWhat priveleges do they enjoy? Working at McDonalds or picking cherries in Payson? How is that speacial treatment? Most of us don't want that privilege. They are rewarded for work like I am. I think we do need a big overhaul on controlling and selecting who can enter the country. I doubt there is much we can do about the 12 million already here. What do you suggest we do?
ReplyDeleteBush actually had some good ideas [guest worker program, path to legal citizenship] in his federal legislation, but it was defeated by members of both parties [even our 2 senators split the Utah vote]. We need federal leadership on this issue and legislation introduced just after an election to avoid the "grandstanding" that politicians do when they are up for re-election.
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