SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Illegal immigration has been a hot topic for this legislative session with half a dozen house bills passed and waiting for the governor's signature. Some have questions about the specifics of some of those bills.
House Bill 466, 116, and 497 are the three most talked about. HB 466 will start a state program coordinated with the federal guest worker program to start a partnership between Utah and Mexico to start bringing guest workers here. Attorney Mark Alvarez says HB 466 is “Arguably constitutional. It works within the federal system.
HB 116 allows for the state to issue work permits to certain undocumented workers who qualify here in Utah. Alvarez says the bill is unconstitutional, “116 is like the carrot in the carrot and stick approach. The problem is there is no carrot. There is no carrot because it's unconstitutional and the possibility of a waiver is extraordinarily remote.”
HB 497 is an enforcement bill that will give limited immigration authority to state and local police to check immigration status for people lawfully stopped, detained, or arrested for class a misdemeanors and felonies.
We had to ask the question: Don't these bills go against one another? Alvarez says, “Utah polling data indicates that 71 percent of people in Utah support the guest worker permit for undocumented workers. By the same token they support Arizona style enforcement. That's contradictory.”
Despite Alvarez's explanation that some are unconstitutional and contradictory, all three of these bills have passed and are waiting for Governor Herbert's signature.
Utah's Hispanic immigrant community has decided to show their importance to Utah’s economy by boycotting all Utah businesses. This will begin on March 14th and last 15 days until March 28th. Those boycotting plan to take their money out of banks and not shop at markets or stores during that time.
