Don't push easy fixes for immigration problem

Is immigration a solution looking for a problem?

According to a recent Dan Jones poll, most Utahns want a solution to the problem of illegal immigration but are not sure what it should be. Everyone has a solution, yet no one has defined the problem, or what the solution should look like. Solutions should correspond to the problem. So, what's the problem and how will success be determined?

If tomorrow all illegal immigrants disappeared, would the problems we blame on them go away or become worse? Would we have more jobs? Would our faltering economy get better? Would crime be reduced? Would health care be more available, affordable? Would our education system improve? would our public services be more available to citizens, and would our tax base improve?

Soon, we might be paying $4 a gallon at the gas pump, and food costs are skyrocketing; so what are our lawmakers now doing? They're trying to raise the food tax. How understanding and compassionate is that when we have more families in poverty, high unemployment, mortgage foreclosures, and more homes with two parents working to make ends meet? On top of that we want to get rid of all the illegal immigrant workers who pick our vegetables and fruit, work the slaughterhouses, turkey and dairy farms, clean our homes, and keep the hospitality industry competitive. If they are gone, would local people be eager to take those jobs? Sure, and banks won't have to stay in business to transfer money to foreign countries.

It's not surprising the Dan Jones poll showed people don't know what the solution should be to what ails us. Lawmakers are dealing with symptoms. Some are quick to exploit the pain by offering off-the-shelf solutions and bumper-sticker slogans — the "rule of law," "first, protect the border," "round em up," then what? Gov. Gary Herbert is trying to build consensus around some principles, including that the U.S. government should enforce and draft meaningful immigration policy, that businesses should be held accountable in complying with the law, that the humanity of all people should be respected, and that we should not expect our taxpayers to bear the financial burden. Will he stick with those principles when lawmakers bring bills for him to sign?