This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Mistaking itself for Congress, the Utah Legislature is once again attempting to tackle immigration reform. But the LDS Church, which welcomes undocumented residents to the flock, is throwing a block.
In a Jan. 11 meeting with LDS Apostle M. Russell Ballard and other LDS Church officials, a group of lawmakers was told to be kind, to remember that undocumented immigrants are "human beings," according to Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, the House minority whip.
"The basic message was that we need to step back, not be so reactive, and let cooler heads prevail," Litvack recalled.
It was a subtle message. Officially, church spokesman Scott Trotter said, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remains neutral on immigration legislation. But the call for caution and cool heads should carry great weight in the Legislature, which tends to listen when church officials speak.
And lawmakers should listen once again, because the legislation on the table could be disastrous for new arrivals, hard-working and generally law-abiding individuals who, like all of our ancestors, are here in search of a better life, and make our state a better place.
At least eight bills related to immigration have been introduced in the first days of the 2008 general session. One would require employers to verify residency status of workers. Others would empower police officers to enforce immigration laws, and deny driving privilege cards to undocumented residents and in-state college tuition rates for their foreign-born children.
Only one of the measures, Senate Bill 97, makes sense. And it meshes well with the message from the LDS Church.
SB97, sponsored by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, would create a bipartisan "immigration task force" to carefully study issues relating to immigration, and the role the state should play.
The 11-member task force would look at higher education benefits, driving privileges, employer verification of immigration status, access to social services and the state's role in enforcing federal immigration laws. And it would issue a final report, including any proposed legislation, to interim legislative committees by Nov. 30.
It's a calm, cool, rational, studious approach to hot-button immigration issues. The Legislature should approve SB97, and set the rest of the immigration proposals aside.