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St. George • A twin-engine plane piloted by Rep. Stephen Sandstrom was forced to turn around and land in Spanish Fork on Saturday morning when the craft wouldn't pressurize properly, causing him to miss his appearance at an anti-illegal immigration forum.
Sandstrom, a former commercial airline pilot and who has been flying since he was 17, said nobody was ever in any danger during the short flight and that the return to the airport in Spanish Fork was simply a precautionary decision.
"I probably could've flown low all the way to St. George, but then I would've had to fly low all the way back," he said. "I was concerned about the weather."
The plane was also carrying Rep. Chris Herrod, R-Provo, and Gaylan Stewart, head of a Utah-based anti-illegal immigration group.
No one was injured during the flight.
Sandstorm said the plane, which he's owned for 11 years, was supposed to make the 90-minute flight at a cruising altitude of 18,000 feet, but with the inability to pressurize the cabin and keep the windows from fogging up, he never got the plane above 10,000 feet.
He said one of the main worries about flying above the weather would have been the inability to stop ice from forming on the wings.
Sandstrom calculated that it wasn't worth the risk.
"I just made the call and went back," he said. "It's not a big deal."
The absence of Sandstrom at the anti-illegal immigration forum left the panel severely depleted.
The Orem Republican was to be the centerpiece for the forum, organized by the Citizens Council on Illegal Immigration (CCII). Sandstrom has been traveling the state to talk about his enforcement-only immigration bill that he plans to introduce to the Legislature in January.
But he has encountered some strong resistance to the bill. He said he believes those behind the Utah Compact, a broad document that seeks to tackle the issue of illegal immigration humanely, are trying to derail the legislation.
Sandstrom ran into hostility earlier this week at the state Capitol when protesters of his bill shouted down speakers during a rally sponsored by the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration.
The Republican would've seen friendlier faces Saturday morning as the CCII crowd of about 75 applauded policies advocating crackdowns on undocumented immigrants.
The biggest applause at the forum was reserved for Russell Pearce, the author of the Arizona law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer that is enforcement-only and was the template for Sandstrom's bill — though Sandstrom said he has eliminated some aspects of Pearce's legislation.
Pearce, elected to the Arizona Senate in 2009, said at the forum the issue of illegal immigration is driving down wages, costing jobs and that states have the right to protect their interests.
He also said the Arizona law and bills like Sandstrom's, which would require law enforcement to question legal status after being detained for committing a crime or infraction, are necessary to stop the flow of illegal immigration. He said enforcement must be done at the border and employers must be penalized for using undocumented workers.
"Attrition by enforcement," Pearce said. "It's a simple process. If they can't get a job, they can't get free stuff. Then they won't come."
However, several aspects of Arizona's enforcement-only law have been struck down by federal courts — though Sandstrom said he is convinced his bill is constitutional.
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