There's a scene from "Godfather II" where Michael Corleone visits Cuba. It's 1958 and the revolution is raging. Hyman Roth, the old Mafia don in Cuba, wants Corleone to "invest" in his Cuban operation. Michael refuses. He says coming from the airport he saw a young Cuban who preferred to die rather than give up on his ideals.

Roth can't see it. He has misread everything.

When it comes to immigration policy, the Utah Legislature has also misread everything.

In a few weeks, SB81 will go into effect. The bill was crafted to force illegal immigrants back south.

I can only speak from my own LDS experience here, but I hold Utah lawmakers responsible for breaking up good LDS families and forcing young American citizens out of their native land.

Last Sunday I looked in the eyes of the members of our Spanish-language branch and saw what Michael Corleone saw in the eyes of that young Cuban. I saw people who had suffered greatly for a dream, but who were willing to suffer even more just to hold onto that dream.

In short, I could see the writing on the wall.

I could see these Hispanic brethren were going to win. I could see their faith, resilience and strength. They wanted to be in Utah more than Utah lawmakers wanted them out. They had weathered tribulations with good humor and without malice toward those who persecuted them.

Because of SB81, some planned to send their wives and children back south while they stayed here and worked. They had faith they'd eventually be together again — here, in the "promised land," in the United States.

Forgive me, but at that moment our flint-hearted Utah legislators looked a lot like those frightened 19th-century Illinois and Missouri lawmakers who drove my ancestors out of Nauvoo. Those politicians didn't understand my people, so — filled with fear — they drove the Saints "across the river."

I know some legislators will read that and write me off as a Tokyo Rose — a propagandist.

But I'm not Tokyo Rose in Japan.

I'm Michael Corleone in Cuba.

I see what I see.

And I can see that Utah's legislators are more frightened than the illegal immigrants. They fear the worst — though I have no clue what that would be. Perhaps they're afraid they'll be forced to eat tortillas and dance the Mexican hat dance.

Whatever their anxieties, they are indulging in dark fantasies that damage lives.

And because they are so afraid, good LDS Hispanic families will now be forced to suffer.

But they will endure.

They have character and conviction.

SB81 solves no problems. It creates new problems.

Implementing it is nothing but a new way to persecute good LDS families.

Somehow, I think even Hyman Roth would be able to see that.

Jerry Johnston is a Deseret News staff writer. "New Harmony" appears weekly in Mormon Times.

E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com