'Minutemen' seek a voice

Utah's "minutemen," recently returned from eyeing a 20-mile stretch of southeast Arizona border as part of the monthlong Minuteman Project, are now turning their attention to Utah's immigration policy.

They're unsure how — or if — their cries for tougher immigration control will be heard by state and federal lawmakers.

But, as Alex Segura puts it: "I'm hoping it will garner us a little more respect."

Utah Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said he doesn't know if the minutemen will gain any more clout on their issues, but he did say he's impressed by their efforts.

"What I've been reading in the press about their activities have been very laudable," Valentine said. "I'm actually very proud of the way they're conducting themselves right now. . . . That is the best spirit of what we call the rule of law. Instead of taking the law into their own hands, they're staying within the law."

Minuteman Project organizers have already called their effort a success. Throughout April they're watching the border and reporting any border crossers to the Border Patrol.

"We have successfully shut down this section of border," said spokesman Bill Bennett. "We've certainly gotten Washington's attention."

The Border Patrol has reported reduced activity along the minuteman line but attributes the decrease to increased activity by Mexican authorities on their side of the border.

Bennett said organizers have requests from other states — New Mexico, Texas, California and Idaho — to repeat the project there.

Segura, a board member for Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement, and others are hoping to revive previously failed efforts to repeal a law granting some undocumented residents in-state tuition and repeal undocumented immigrants' drivers' licenses.

Both attempts by Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, have been referred to interim study.

A compromise driver's license bill, SB227, sponsored by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, did pass. SB227, which replaced undocumented immigrants' drivers' licenses with driving privilege cards that can't be used for government identification, has been signed into law.

The bill was driven by a state audit that suggested Utah was being used as a portal for undocumented immigrants to get drivers' licenses and found that some undocumented immigrants may be registering to vote.

Any attempts at revoking either law benefiting undocumented immigrants will likely face opposition from a unified Hispanic community, which was sharply split over SB227.

RAZ-PAC president Bob Gallegos and Joe Reyna, Republican co-chairman of the Utah Hispanic Legislative Task Force, found themselves on opposite sides of that debate.