Utah Legislature: Required screening for illegals on tap?

SALT LAKE CITY — Every company in the state of Utah would be required to screen employees for legal presence in the U.S. or face losing their business license and possible criminal penalties under a new bill in the Legislature.

The proposal, SB251, sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, greatly expands a current statute that requires employee screening of businesses that contract with the state, but adds the teeth of a Class B misdemeanor for non-compliers, a charge punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Buttars told the Deseret News on Wednesday that he's still tweaking language in the bill, and wasn't ready to field questions on the content, but he did comment on its intent.

"I just want to stop illegal immigration," Buttars said. "It's a problem."

The bigger problem for the bill, however, may be the attached criminal penalty.

Salt Lake immigration attorney, Tim Wheelwright, said while federal appellate courts have been ruling on the side of states mandating the use of legal presence verification, the inclusion of a Class B misdemeanor penalty may create a constitutional conflict.

"When you start talking about a criminal sanction for not using E-Verify, it raises issues," Wheelwright said. "I think that part of the bill might have a problem in the 10th Circuit" Court of Appeals.

That court ruled in favor of a statewide mandate for screening earlier this month in an Oklahoma immigration case, but did so on a 2-1 judicial vote for a statute that did not include a criminal penalty.

Ron Mortensen, of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, said the problem Buttars is looking to rectify is already being addressed by some 1,600 businesses in the state that are using E-Verify, an electronic screening tool that is offered at no charge to employers and operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in conjunction with the Social Security Administration. E-Verify, along with the Social Security Number Verification System, verifies an employee's legal right to work in the country by comparing supplied personal information with federal databases. Mortensen said Buttars' bill mandating use of the screening tools addresses several issues, including identity fraud and fair business practice.

"The way we see it, this is a tool to secure Utah's children against identity theft," Mortensen said. "It also levels the playing field between those businesses that have stepped up to responsibility on their own, and those that still haven't."