The problem: She's only 4 years old.

Before Tyler was even born, or issued a Social Security number, an undocumented worker stole her identity. Tyler's mother, Camber, said straightening up the fiasco became a full-time job, and her daughter will have to spend the rest of her life convincing people she is the rightful owner of her Social Security number.

Rather than wait for the state or federal government to protect people like the Lybberts from identity theft, one Draper City Council member wanted reform at the municipal level.

Councilman Bill Colbert says the city at Salt Lake County's southeast end should require incoming businesses to sign affidavits that promise they do not, and will not, knowingly employ undocumented workers. Under Colbert's proposal, Draper businesses would have been required to enroll in the Department of Homeland Security's Web-based "E-Verify System" to certify new hires' worker eligibility.

But the council, fearing it would interfere with a federal issue, killed the proposal in a 3-2 vote Tuesday night.

One Utah immigration lawyer said the measure would have been the first time a Utah city went above and beyond federal requirements to crack down on illegal immigration, but he questioned the legality.

Roger Tsai, an attorney with Parsons, Behle & Latimer, said courts around the country are still considering whether local efforts like Draper's conflict with the federal government's exclusive right to enact immigration laws. He added that Draper's move might have only pushed undocumented immigrants further underground in search of better fake documents, or sent them to surrounding areas to find employment.

Draper resident Nick Ramond said the city would be hard-pressed to pick up the slack everywhere the federal government is lagging behind and added that the E-Verify System has an unacceptable margin of error and needs to be improved.

Tsai pointed out that Hyrum's Swift meatpacking plant was using the program when 154 undocumented Latino workers were arrested in a 2006 raid.

Said Councilman Troy Walker: "You have to have your head in the sand if you don't understand there's an immigration problem in the U.S., but it's the federal government's responsibility to solve. Until the U.S. border is secured, immigration reform is irrelevant."

sgehrke@sltrib.com