Utahns roll out Internet forum on immigration

A group of Utahns is creating a national Internet forum to discuss immigration reform in hopes of encouraging Congress to end a summerlong stalemate on the issue, and Rep. Chris Cannon predicted this week that there will be agreement on comprehensive reform by Christmas.

Tiani Coleman is co-chairwoman of the National Immigration Advisory Committee, a continuation of an informal immigration advisory group that Cannon, R-Utah, put together earlier this year to look at the issue. The group has created a report of its recommendations, and Coleman is now hoping for a similar discussion on a national level.

But not everyone agrees that there will be comprehensive — or any — reform this year.

On Wednesday, a Salt Lake rally encouraging President Bush to press Congress to act on comprehensive reform drew only about 100 people. That's a stark contrast to last spring, when thousands turned out for marches and rallies in Utah, and hundreds of mostly Latino students walked out of school.

Archie Archuleta, co-chair of the Utah Hispanic Legislative Task Force, had been among those who had questioned the timing and motives of the rally, which took place just hours after Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson's protest of the Iraq war.

Still, Archuleta said he was surprised more people didn't attend the rally, organized by Tony Yapias, chairman of the Utah Hispanic Democratic Caucus and director of Proyecto Latino. Yapias was also behind the April 9 march to the state Capitol, which drew more than 25,000 people, according to police estimates.

Archuleta suggested that perhaps the undocumented Latino community has "come to a fundamental understanding that it doesn't look like there will be any reform at all."

In a tough election year, lines have been drawn between the U.S. House bill, which focuses on border security and punishing those who hire illegal immigrants, and the U.S. Senate bill, which would also legalize many of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

"People have reached a point where they're waiting," Archuleta said. "The people most interested in the reform are still there, and they want to come out, but they want to come out when it will make a difference."

Utah isn't the only place where immigrants and their supporters are cautiously eyeing Congress. Immigrants and their supporters took the the streets Friday in Chicago, Washington, Phoenix and Los Angeles, to start a weeklong encore of the rallies that brought millions out last spring, the Associated Press reported.