Huntsman to draft immigration plan

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — At least it's a start.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on Tuesday talked a group of his fellow Western governors into letting him draft a proposal on immigration that they'll take a look at early next year.

But no promises were made that any action will ever be taken on the controversial issue. Still, Huntsman said he was pleased with the results of his private luncheon meeting, held jbefore the start of the annual winter session of the Western Governors' Association here.

"We are where I'd hoped we would be at this point. The WGA has never taken up this issue before," Huntsman said. "It does take time and it does take building consensus. That's the way the organization works, but you do have to start someplace."

He had help making his pitch from Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, as well as the support of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who did not attend Tuesday's meeting. The two Democratic governors have gone so far as to declare a state of emergency along the Mexican border to secure funds to fight illegal immigration.

"We're going to see if we can't, over the course of the next few months, reach a consensus among all of us," Napolitano said, describing Tuesday's discussion as only "at the very edges" of the issue. The Arizona governor, who heads the WGA, declined to be specific about what position she'd like to see the governors eventually take — but clearly wants them to do something.

"On immigration, in my opinion, it is so important for our country that we begin having a dialog based on realism and rhetoric and really start grappling with the details of what needs to happen so we have an enforceable immigration law that is enforced," Napolitano said.

The three other governors here — Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming — have less interest in the issue but agreed to take it on anyway.

"What's in it for me? Not a hell of a lot," Schweitzer said, noting Montana has few undocumented workers. But he said that by banding together, the region's governors could counter the "partisan bickering" in Washington about immigration.

"We'll work together," Schweitzer said.

Rounds, the vice chairman of the WGA, said the governors know from experience "that if we do nothing, Congress will act. . . . WGA certainly has a number of governors in it who really are impacted, and their states are truly impacted on a daily basis by current immigration policies."