Reader comments
No Utah welcome mat for illegals?

we don't want people that are trying to follow the rules to wait longer to come to the US and have a shot at being a citizen than someone coming without permission. That isn't fair. It sets a bad precedent.

We need to fix legal immigration. I don't want a welcome mat for those not willing to follow the rules and are stealing are ID's.

I might love them as people, but I don't love what they are doing.

I agree with arc. I have many good friends who were born in other countries but who now live here. Some are here legally, some are not. I love them all. But I don't condone being here illegally.

I don't support a heavy-handed approach of rounding up people and sending them back. I DO support holding employers' feet to the fire and requiring them to use the existing federal verification system to ensure that new and existing employees a) are here legally, b) are eligible to work, and c) are not using someone else's stolen social security number. If all hiring entities, private, non-profit and public sector followed this procedure and required it of their contractors, then illegals would leave of their own accord (and would also communicate to the folks back home to not come because there is no work!). Simple solution.

I'd personally like to see the businesses who were lax in allowing illegals to work foot the bill for any assistance needed to help people return home.

BTW--I think we'll find that supply and demand will eventually sort out the jobs left behind--they won't go unfilled for long. As the cheap labor supply shrinks wages will increase.

I refuse to welcome those who have come here illegally just like I would refuse to welcome home invasion robbers into my home. There is something fundamentally wrong with a government that is still trying to find a way to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who have thumbed their noses at us and have absolutely no respect for us, our laws, or the sovereignty of our country. Why doesn't this matter to them?

I seem to remember (perhaps I am wrong) reading recently that the SLC Chamber of Commerce is working on a plan to deal with illegal immigration. Why? We already have a plan. It's called SB81! Legislators should have voted to make it effective this past July rather than waiting until next year.

Extreme vigilance is required now because many will attempt to gut the bill or eliminate it entirely. That would be a mockery of the rule of law.

This really is a problem. It has destroyed the schools and healthcare here and I'm predicting Utah (where I was born) is on a delayed course. Sure, we need to treat people nice, but if they shouldn't be in the United States then send them politely on their way. Don't give in. The real solution is to encourage other countries to improve themselves first and our country can let those who want do it the right way immigrate.

arc - That might be the nicest comment I have ever seen you post. I agree with you. Now it's about the details. This is a tough issue whether people want to admit it or not. People win elections by using bumper sticker slogans like "we need to fix legal immigration." The problems come in trying to sort those items out that start dealing with details.

My guess is that anything that would allow someone to stay here that came to the US illegally is amnesty in your eyes. You may say that but if we started talking about the details on how to do that or who it might affect - my other guess is that you'd think twice about it.

Chaffetz won an election using this tactic of not talking details b/c it gets too muddied. I applaud his tactic but it leaves much to work out at the end.

I'm a native Utahan descended from the original Mormon settlers and I don't feel welcome in Utah with my California plates. What's the big deal?

Who are these Sutherland people? I picked up a copy of their report and found it to be very out of touch and dangerous if anyone follows their suggestions. Obviously these guys need to get out into the real world and see that there is a criminal element involved with illegal aliens. I'm glad to see at least some legislators calling them onto the carpet.

Well said arc. You were succinct and on point especially with the "I might love them as people, but I don't love what they're doing".

We ofter talk about the problem of illegal immigration, but we actually have a problem of illegal employment. I don't see anyone complaining about the employers who are "breaking federal law"

Hickman is a blowhard. And now I hear the right wing is floating him to run against Bob Bennett for US Senate. Oh boy!

This issue is pretty complicated as evidenced by the fact that no one has solved it yet. Deportations having been setting new records each year for the past 4 or 5 years. The border fence hsa reduced illegal border crossings by hundreds of thousands a year. Yet illegal immigration persists.

Enforcement alone will not stop the masses from doing what they want. Enforcement must continue but other methods need to be considered, such as a workable migrant visa.

SB 81, as I understand it, has good provisions. It concepts to cut off the benefits of US Citizenship to those who are not US Citizens. It will have a strong impact on the presence of those in Utah illegally. It alone will not settle the issue. The Sutherland is right to look at or consider other ways of addressing the issue.

Bill Hickman worries me. He has been a blah, blah, yada, yada Representative and Senator for 16 years now. Even on this issue he helped kill thoughtful immigration bills two years ago. Now he'll save us?

the USA.

These illegal foreign nationals are not adding any value to Utah. They expect and believe that america is a socialist economy and spunging off our social services and welfare programs. Their tax burden exceeds any gain and they are doing this with lies, deceit, and falsification of information that cannot be verified or proven. And they and their employers know this. These illegals and their employers are not paying any income taxes and they have no identity. They can commit crimes and fraud rampantly and openly without any consequences from the law. If caught they are released and relocate at will with no means to be traced. They have also put excessive burdens on our education systems that illegals are using as daycare centers while the illegal parents defraud the american people. They have and are multipling like rabbits to establish anchor babies and increase welfare benefits. Thier idea of assimilation is americans assimilate the illegal criminal lives without regard to violation of any laws. There is no such thing as a nice and friendly illegal, they are stabbing america in the back with thier hands out. Laws must address the business community and their lucrative tax evasion profiting.

The state should hold employers accountable to curb illegal immigration. They should be fined greatly each instance they hire an undocumented worker.

HOW CAN ANYONE PUT BREAKING THE LAW, BEFORE GIVING ILLEGAL'S SO MANY RIGHTS, LET THEM START BY COMING IN THE FRONT DOOR WITH LEGAL PAPERS!!!

Will someone please come check my neighborhood?? I am surrounded by illegals on all sides. As mentioned, the people can be loved, but I do not love those who commit felonies to be here.. I don't love what the child molester does, why should I love what illegal aliens are doing?

"If a person of good will comes to our state looking to make Utah a better place to live, work and raise a family, then we should welcome that person � from wherever and however they come to us,"
I agree with this statement, but illegals don't fit the definition. They all need someone else's identity to work.
I'm not willing to let them use mine of my families, are you ?

They are taking all the lower grungy jobs, allowing us good upstanding citizens to go into the chushy jobs.

This is intollarable I hate it, or so it would seem given the response of many Utah's.

If people come here legally, learn English and respect our customs and rule of law - we welcome them with open arms. If they come here illegally, want us to learn their language, fly their countries flag and expect free services - they are NOT welcome here! Send them home to their own country. Rule of law and English is what made America great!

Our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. That is one thing Bush and McCain are right about. If all illegals were deported, our economy would collapse. Most illegals have legal family members, wives, husbands or children. Deportation would break-up countless families. Sending hard working people back to starve where there is no work will be hard to explain to St. Peter at the Gates of Heaven.

Ask Arizona how wonderful it is with their illegal immigrants. It appears that many are not so nice. They have broken laws, taken easy money from the government, and left some of our own in harms way. I am not opposed to people coming here-but do it legally. When we turn our heads and say the law does not matter, what other laws get ignored. And then what constitutional rights slowly are being taken away because we have been complacent and do not want to stand up for what is right. It is when we say it is no big deal that the freedoms we enjoy slowly are taken away-and we do not see it till it is too late. So what I am trying to express, if we say illegal immigrants are no big deal, they do not have to follow our law and rules, then what happens next? What happens to our constitution? What happens to the USA and what is stands for? WAKE UP!!! Come live here, but do it legally. I have to follow the laws of your land follow the laws of mine.