Mixed national reaction to Utah immigration reform

Utah's answer to immigration reform is attracting a bevy of mixed reactions from across the country.

Locally, KSL talks to several Utah legislators to find out their rationale behind the Utah Solution. Viewing the issue through more of a national lens, The New York Times offers broader perspective on the issue of state-based immigration reform and concludes, "the lack of consensus that has immobilized Congress has shown up in the (state) legislatures as well."

Several media outlets and advocacy groups are reporting positive reactions for the Beehive State's immigration initiatives.

An editorial in today's Los Angeles Times says that Utah "is the latest state to consider a local fix to a federal (immigration) problem," and that the ongoing push in over a dozen states to pass state-level immigration reform should serve as a wake-up call to Washington.

Jason Riley at the Wall Street Journal and Latino advocacy leader Alfonso Aguilar writing an op-ed piece for Politico both invoke Reagan in praising the Utah legislation for its adherence to free-market principles.

However, other voices gauge the free-market friendliness of the "Utah solution" as ineffective at best and, in a worst-case scenario, potentially disastrous to American workers.

The Sacramento Bee ran an op-ed piece yesterday explaining how and why Utah's immigration reform legislation "is nothing to celebrate" and "smacks of window dressing."

Over at the Providence Journal, Froma Harrop quotes the Utah Compact in order to illustrate how the Beehive State's new immigration measures are detrimental to Utah workers, i.e. "the folks (Utah Compact supporters) want to replace with guest workers from Mexico."

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