Sutherland Institute hosts dialogue on illegal immigration

SALT LAKE CITY — The right to migrate is an "inherent human right" that "transcends national law," the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City said during a discussion on illegal immigration Thursday.

The Sutherland Institute hosted a dialogue between the Most Rev. John C. Wester and Brett Tolman, former U.S. attorney for Utah, on the topic of illegal immigration.

"It seems like the focus should be on the person," Bishop Wester said. "These people ... have the right to migrate when necessary. It's a human right. That transcends national law. It's an inherent human right."

The question, then, is how to keep that in mind while maintaining law and order.

"There are some (constitutional) problems with the approaches that people want to take," Tolman said. "And are we willing to really sacrifice some of our fundamental legal foundation in order to address this issue?"

Tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants live in Utah, according to the Sutherland Institute, a Utah-based conservative think tank. The consensus Thursday was that it's not right for people to come to the U.S. illegally, but there needs to be a civil way to deal with those already here. The U.S. border with Mexico is a separate issue, Sutherland officials said, and it needs to be addressed at the federal level.

There also was a lot of condemnation of the recent action by Arizona to combat illegal immigration.

According to Sutherland president Paul Mero, there is a good chance a similar law will be discussed in Utah in the next legislative session.

"When you pass a law like that, you are sending a message that individuals who have that skin color or may be illegal are less or inferior, or they are to be observed," Tolman said. "I think that is a very dangerous precedent."

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