Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. gets his chance today to pitch Western governors on the need to back changes to the country's immigration policy — but he'll do it behind closed doors.

Huntsman is scheduled to bring up the controversial topic during a private "governors only" lunch that will kick off the two-day winter meeting of the Western Governors' Association in Scottsdale, Ariz., that ends Wednesday.

He'll lead what the organization is calling an "off-the-record discussion of U.S. immigration" along with two Democratic governors who are heavily involved in the issue, Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

"Only rarely do we do that," Huntsman said, noting the topic is sensitive because it's "the first time ever that we will have this discussion as governors. . . . At a governors-only gathering, we can get down to brass tacks and have meaningful conversations."

Utah's governor, who pledged to Mexican President Vicente Fox during a visit in Mexico City earlier this year that he will take on the immigration issue, said he doesn't have a specific plan in mind yet.

All Huntsman said he hopes to accomplish today is getting the governors to agree to look at what immigration changes they could back as an organization, such as increasing border enforcement or streamlining the citizenship application process.

"That's what I wanted to bring about at our first meeting, is to get on the agenda, to rally the governors behind an issue that is important, to get them focused on the need to weigh in with a loud voice during the legislative process," Huntsman said.

That might not be easy. WGA Executive Director Pam Inman has said the Colorado-based organization focuses on issues that affect most if not all of the 18 states in the West that make up its membership.

The majority of those states, Inman has pointed out, "don't feel the immigration issues quite as strongly" as those that share a border with Mexico.

Two Western governors, Napolitano and Richardson, have already raised their voices about immigration. Last summer, they attracted national attention by declaring a state of emergency along the Mexican border to boost law enforcement efforts against illegal immigration.

While Utah does not share a border with Mexico, the issue captured Huntsman's interest during his July visit to that country. His pledge to Fox to work on immigration was an effort to sweeten the deal for his trade, educational and cultural alliance between Utah and Mexico.

It worked — Fox supported the proposed alliance, although he has yet to sign a formal agreement with Utah. Nor has the Mexican president announced specific plans to visit the state, something Huntsman had hoped would happen by the end of the year.