Immigration law not needed now

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. doesn't believe that a controversial state immigration law will take effect, as it is now on the books, come July 1.

Speaking to KCPW Radio, the governor said that so much has changed since SB81 was first passed by the 2008 Legislature — specifically the poor U.S. economy with huge job losses leading to illegal immigrants actually going back to Mexico and South America — that there just is not the immediate need to crack down on illegal immigration today.

Huntsman told the public radio station that Oklahoma is being sued by both sides of the controversial issue in that state's attempt to deal with illegal immigrants.

And with Utah running a tax revenue deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars, he said another high-cost program (SB81 will cost the state an estimated $1 million a year) is just not required now.

"Something remarkable has happened since we last debated this in a most emotional fashion," said Huntsman, who signed SB81 last March only after demanding a number of changes to the controversial bill.

People who came to the U.S. to find "a good job are now going back," said the governor.

Illegal immigration "is not the issue it was two or three years ago. We're not producing the jobs, not creating the stimulus that would bring people over the border," he said.

"Before we rush headlong into anything, first of all listen very carefully to what the federal government is going to do," Huntsman said, adding that one reason national Republicans took a beating in the 2008 elections is because they lost the Hispanic vote by 2-to-1 to Democratic candidates, and the "critical" tone of Republicans on immigration was a big factor in those numbers.

Huntsman made his cautionary remarks Thursday as the Legislature's special immigration study committee held its last meeting — where a number of groups asked that SB81 either be greatly changed or just junked.

But Republicans on the committee said they would, indeed, move ahead with the law — which has several parts, including penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers and provisions for local law enforcement officers to act as immigration officers and arrest illegals.

The incoming House majority whip, Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, said as a member of the powerful Executive Appropriations Committee, he would work hard to find the required $1 million to implement SB81 by taking the money from some other less-worthy state program.

Immigration Interim Committee co-chairman, Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, for the most part discounted Huntsman's suggestion.