Immigration reform urged

While Utah's congressional candidates made it clear they see a need for immigration reform, they offered few details in a Deseret Morning News questionnaire as to just how they'd make it happen.

While all candidates said border security is essential, and some made it clear they don't support amnesty, they also pointed to a need for deeper reform, such as workplace enforcement or streamlining the legal immigration process.

The responses, which touched on issues from national security to a need for a viable economy, were largely reiterations of the debate over the past year that resulted in a stalemate between the House and the Senate over how to deal with the nation's estimated 11.5 to 12 million illegal immigrants.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, who was drawn into a primary challenge because of his support for President Bush's guest worker proposal, simply said the issue is too complex to address in "one paragraph" and referred readers to a proposal created by an Immigration Advisory Committee he created.

The only details he gave are that the borders must be secure and "laws and policies that allow immigrants to legally help us meet the needs of a growing economy."

He added, "what must happen is that reasonable people must put the sound bites aside and rationally identify reforms that will work."

Cannon, who had hoped to be part of a negotiating committee that never materialized, was part of a Congress that couldn't do what he suggested. After a year of rhetoric, Congress adjourned for the election without passing any major reform. President Bush signed into law a homeland security bill authorizing partial funding for 700 miles of border fence and a "virtual wall," along with funding for additional Border Patrol agents.

However, it fell short of the House's original enforcement bill passed last year, which would have, among other things, required employers verify their workers' identities. The measures also fell short of the Senate's vision to create a way for many undocumented immigrants to earn legal status.

Democrat Christian Burridge, who is challenging Cannon, said many undocumented workers own businesses, property and have U.S. citizen children.

"Some undocumented workers should be deported, some should be able to apply for a guest worker program," he said, "and some should be able to petition for a change in status where they may be able to obtain a green card and one day obtain citizenship — so long as they pay a fine, enter the status adjustment process at the back of the line, learn English and take the necessary classes to become citizens."

However, he failed to say just how those "some" would be defined.