State officials looking at effects of new immigration statutes

Preparations are moving forward on upcoming implementation of new Utah immigration statutes as state officials wait to see how pending federal policy changes could affect enforcement efforts.

Utah's top law enforcement officer has also pledged to make communication with the state's immigrant population a top priority as a new illegal immigration strike force is formed and 2008's immigration reform bill, SB81, gets set to take effect.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler said Thursday that new DHS Secretary and former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano had just completed a broad review of enforcement practices conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and new field guidelines would likely be issued in a matter of days.

"Secretary Napolitano wants to make sure workplace enforcement is operating the way it should … she initiated a broad review of all immigration and border security programs and policies within her first 10 days in office," Chandler said. "She is focused on using our limited resources to the greatest effect, targeting criminal aliens and employers that flout our laws and deliberately cultivate an illegal work force."

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Thursday that he had heard about possible changes in ICE policy, which may include more focus on employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants, through media sources but had received no official communication about how those changes may be implemented. Shurtleff said that $1.7 million in funding, coming from federal stimulus money, had just been approved and early work has begun on forming a new illegal immigration strike force approved by the Legislature.

Shurtleff's office will hire five full-time investigators to head the team that will work with ICE agents and local law enforcement agencies to target illegal immigrants involved in felony-level crimes, with particular focus on crimes involving drug and human trafficking.

Shurtleff said he was heading a request by Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake, to make education and outreach to the immigrant community an essential part of the strike force plan. Town hall meetings will be used to reiterate that the enforcement focus is on high-level criminals.

"We want to assure the Latino community that this effort is not about racial profiling or going after everyone," Shurtleff said. "This is a focused, felony-specific effort."

Shurtleff said his office will be issuing a Memorandum Of Understanding with the DHS as part of the requirements of SB81 but otherwise will only be functioning as a source of legal advice in implementation of the statute. The MOU establishes a path for the training of state and local law enforcement officers by ICE to participate in illegal immigration enforcement.

Provisions of SB81, which take effect on July 1, include requiring legal employment status verification for the employees of companies that contract with the state, as well as for those who apply for public benefits funded by state or municipal funds.

E-mail: araymond@desnews.com