Instead, lawmakers adapted. They agreed to spend a ton of money and temporarily exile themselves to cramped digs nearby so their shop could undergo a seismic retrofit.
Seismic may also be the word to describe the kind of political shift that will be necessary to face the causes and effects of the many illegal aliens who live here and the many more who are certain to come.
Cracking down on illegal migration may be politically popular, but is about as pointless as criminalizing acts of nature. A new study from the Pew Hispanic Center concludes that the number of illegal aliens in the United States has climbed to a record 11 million, with perhaps 90,000 of them residing in Utah.
Of course, these estimates can only be educated guesses because, by definition, illegal aliens are not checking in at the border as they arrive, or checking out when they leave.
If they leave.
The libertarian Cato Institute three years ago made a compelling case that our border protection efforts actually boost the number of illegal immigrants here at any one time, and make their maintenance more of a drain on the economy.
When it was easier for illegals to come and go, Cato argues, they came and went. Able-bodied adults came, worked like dogs for weeks or months, then went home to their families.
Today, with activists waving the bloody shirt of immigration, migrants driven here by economic need don't assume that they can come and go at will. So they come and stay. And they are more likely to bring their families with them, putting a strain on schools and other public services that their grandparents did not.
Realistically dealing with the problem requires more than fantasies about sealed borders and a repeal of the law of supply and demand. One step would be to end federal subsidies to American corn, which has flooded the Mexican market and destroyed the livelihoods of millions of that nation's farm families.
The other would be the kind of on-the-table guest worker program pushed, timidly, by President Bush and more boldly by Utah's Rep. Chris Cannon.
A border turnstile that works both ways could dry up the underground pipeline and raise the standard of living for all workers, native and visiting.
