SLCC students debate immigration questions

Should employers or the undocumented workers they hire be held accountable? Who should clean up litter on the U.S.-Mexico border? And what about identity theft?

Those were a few of the questions posed by students at Salt Lake Community College on Tuesday at an immigration discussion hosted by the Freedom Society, a conservative constitutional group.

Federal lawmakers haven't made progress toward finding common ground between a Senate bill that would legalize many of the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants and a House bill that focuses on enforcement and border security.

The Utah Minuteman Project, which is calling for a secure border and enforcement of immigration laws, has said employers need to be held accountable for hiring illegal immigrants. Last year the group supported a failed bill that would have required Utah employers to verify their new hires' identities as a way of cracking down on identity theft by undocumented workers who purchase others' Social Security numbers to work.

Immigrant rights activist Tony Yapias agreed that identity theft is a serious issue. Yapias said comprehensive immigration reform, such as President Bush's proposed guest worker program, would solve the problem by creating a legal way for unskilled workers to work.

Yapias also brought up another side to the issue — employers who abuse undocumented workers.

Norm Davis of the Utah Minuteman Project spoke about the citizen movement to watch the border, and he called for enforcement of immigration law. He stressed national security as a key reason the border needs to be secured.

"If only one of them is a terrorist, should we not all be concerned for our children?" Davis said. "It's not about pointing fingers at any illegal aliens, it's about politicians doing their jobs."

Answering a question about trash strewn along the border, and private property damage caused by the wave of border crossers, Yapias replied, "It's the responsibility of all, including the undocumented."

"We should all volunteer," Yapias said. "If the Minutemen are watching the border, they might as well pick up some trash."

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