Utah delegates discuss immigration reform

SALT LAKE CITY — The ongoing debate in Utah about immigration reform is primed to kick up yet another dust storm before year's end, when several bills pertaining to immigration are introduced in the state Legislature.

But to give adequate context to any analysis of state-based efforts to reform immigration law, one must first recognize that immigration is a fundamentally federal issue. Although a strong undertow of debate about whether states have any business legislating immigration is permeating both the federal courts and the public square on the heels of Arizona's enactment of its own immigration bill, nobody's arguing that immigration reform is first and foremost the responsibility of the federal government.

Which leads to the proverbial elephant in the room: At a time when immigration is the hottest of hot-button topics in the Beehive State, why hasn't Utah's congressional delegation parlayed the concerns if its constituents into any kind of palpable immigration reform?

To find answers to that question, the Deseret News contacted the five members of Utah's congressional delegation: Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, as well as Reps. Jim Matheson, Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz. Hatch and the three representatives took time to answer questions and share insights about immigration reform. Bennett, whose 18-year tenure as the state's junior senator is ending, did not respond to interview requests.

To their credit, each of the four respondents offered salient, articulate insight into the complexities of Washington's inability to address immigration. Nobody proffered silver-bullet explanations for why immigration policy is broken or how to immediately fix it, but the amalgamation of their various viewpoints provides a three-dimensional world view of the challenges that lay ahead. Their varied explanations about the institutional failure of Congress to reform immigration law include references to a new immigration bill in the Senate, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, partisan politics, border security, a 19th century English author and a Comedy Central comedian.

Ironically, the one thing the quartet most strongly agrees with each other about is that Congress definitely should have done something about immigration by now.

The insider

Hatch's nearly 34 years in the Senate afford him impeccable credentials.