Federal funds to target Utah crime corridors

WASHINGTON — The small community of Blanding in remote southeastern Utah doesn't seem a likely battlefront in the long-running fight against illegal immigration, drug smuggling and perhaps terrorism. But, the Senate agrees, it is.

The Senate has approved a Homeland Security appropriations bill that includes language to study creating an immigration and customs office in Blanding, and Sen. Orrin Hatch thinks Utah — long, he notes, the Crossroads of the West — needs even more federal help.

"I-70 and I-15 in Utah have become large conduits for the smuggling of illegal immigrants and illegal substances as these foreigners flee from the Southern states as fast as possible in order to get north, where they believe enforcement is less stringent," Hatch, R-Utah, said on the Senate floor this past week.

Under provisions of the appropriations act, Utah is set to receive more than $10 million through security grants to strengthen the ability of police and firefighters to respond to emergencies in the state.

Hatch also reached agreement with Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee for Homeland Security, to specifically address the immigration issues facing Utah.

"With two major arteries for illegal immigration running through the southern portion of Utah, citizens in that beautiful area have grown tired of the strain and difficulties presented by the flood of illegal immigrants," he said.

Blanding Police Chief Mike Halliday said Hatch's concerns are based on fact.

"We find large quantities of drugs passing through on a fairly regular basis," he said. "It seems to be a pretty established route coming out of Arizona," via U.S. 191 and 163.

Halliday said federal assistance would help bolster Blanding's small police force, which must deal with the growing problem.

"On the last three or four loads of drugs we have found, at least one of the (accompanying) people has been illegal," Halliday said. Blanding, he said, gives travelers a direct shot north to I-70, which leads to various destinations east, west and north.

Utah has "vital infrastructure critical to the country that needs to be protected," Hatch said in a prepared statement. The state "deserves a fair share of security grant funding to invest in significant intelligence and practical anti-terrorism approaches to keep Utahns and the country safe," he said.

On a national level, the bill provides for 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents and hundreds of new immigration criminal investigators and deportation officers. The Senate also approved $5 million to help participating states train and certify local law officers to enforce federal immigration law.