Lawmakers planning immigration summit

Utah legislators will hold a major, daylong summit this summer on illegal immigration, aimed at finding answers to what state government can do to control it.

"Illegal immigration is an ongoing problem and challenge," Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, told members of the Legislature's ruling Management Committee Tuesday afternoon.

Each Legislature, a number of bills on immigration are introduced, but lawmakers are unsure what they can do, if anything, to deal with the issue.

Legislative bosses of both political parties approved the summit, to which all 104 lawmakers will be invited and paid to attend.

Utah's two U.S. senators and three U.S. House members will also be invited to sit down to not just talk but determine areas where the state can act on the problem, said Stephenson.

A special committee will work out the agenda and timing, committee members decided.

"We're going to try to address (illegal immigrants) in a bipartisan way," said Stephenson.

Various bills that lawmakers have debated for several years — like in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, or penalties for businesses who hire illegals — are debated in a political and legal vacuum as lawmakers try to deal with the affects of illegal immigration, not the sources of it.

"It is like we are trying to stop the water flow at the bottom of the waterfall," said Stephenson. "We need to address the issues at the top of the waterfall" where some progress can be made.

Legislatures across the nation have been expressing their frustration and displeasure in Congress on the immigration issue. Defending the nation's borders is actually a constitutional responsibility of Congress and the federal executive branch.

But while everyone agrees there are huge immigration problems, little has been done. Congress failed to act on comprehensive immigration reform last year. It did approve a 700-mile-long fence for the U.S.-Mexican border but then didn't fund its construction.

The Utah legislative auditor general is now conducting an audit to find out how much it costs Utah schools to educate children of illegal immigrants. By law, every child in Utah is guaranteed a free public education, and most illegal immigrants pay taxes toward that education.

"We want this to be a positive" summit, said Stephenson, not a place where lawmakers just blame Congress for little or no action.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said the summit could provide some answers to ongoing immigration concerns. But he wants to see an agenda before he votes to spend the money on a special-session-like, daylong, paid meeting of lawmakers.