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It took the legislative session just four weeks to turn the immigration debate from a simmering-under-the-surface to an out-in-the-open scrap that included acts of one-upsmanship and even death threats.
Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, now alters the way he travels to the Capitol each day, and law enforcement has briefed him and his family on how to enter and leave their house by doing visual sweeps at the front door.
Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake City, is more careful, too. She got a call from an unidentified woman who called Robles a "terrorist" and said she deserved to die.
None of it is taken lightly since the January shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona.
Bryan Hyer, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said the agency has active investigations on all the threats and said the climate this session is "definitely heated."
The Utah Highway Patrol — responsible for legislators' security — is briefed daily on the situation. And now that Sandstrom's enforcement-only immigration bill has passed the House and at least three other bills could make their way to the House floor this week, the Capitol security staff remains on alert.
House Speaker Becky Lockhart, who is in her seventh term, said she couldn't recall a session in which there were investigations of death threats, and she worried about the escalation of rhetoric.
"It is concerning to me the rhetoric outside the Legislature has escalated and the people's representatives are engaged in a very healthy, open and honest dialogue on the immigration issue," she said. "When the outside voices begin to get strident and we begin to have the threats, it's worrisome."
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No middle ground • Pam Perlich, economics professor at the University of Utah, said it's not unusual for the immigration debate to devolve among the extremes on both sides.
The nation has struggled with assimilating immigrants for much of its history, she said, and blame for economic woes have fallen on the Irish, Italians, Greeks, Vietnamese and Latinos.
"Every time a new group of people comes in and brings a different language, culture, appearance or religion, some people react in fear," Perlich said. "It is seen as a threat to their way of life or a threat to their perception of what the community should be."
Kirk Jowers, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, said the debate gets so simplified that one side screams "amnesty" and the other side shouts "rule of law" and no middle ground is visible. That, he said, can promote extremism.
Perlich and Jowers also said the Giffords assassination attempt was a game-changer. Most reports don't link the Arizona Democrat to the immigration issue, though initial reports raised the question because of where it happened.
Arizona, in the past year, has become synonymous with the immigration debate and with its legislation SB1070 — aimed at requiring local police to become immigration enforcers — signed into law, it has become shorthand for the issue.
"There is no doubt Arizona is part of the equation," Perlich said. "It's not the entire equation, but it's there."
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The woman called back • Robles found herself caught up in the threats when she was scheduled to attend her first Conservative Caucus to present her bill to Republican lawmakers last week.
That's when she got the call. She picked it up and a woman started screaming at her. Robles hung up and the woman called back and screamed the threats.
It shook Robles.
"Now every time I get a call and it's an unknown number, it gets me thinking — is this going to be one of those?" she said. "I keep my eyes open and notice my surroundings more. And when I'm with my little girl, I'm even more attentive."
Even though Robles and Sandstrom are on opposite sides of the spectrum, they share a common worry.
Sandstrom said his wife is "freaked out." He is also concerned about his children being able to go out without fear. His daughter's car has been pelted with tomatoes and when he goes out to a restaurant, he sits with his back to the wall so he can see who is coming in and out.
Despite all of that, none of the lawmakers has been intimidated into changing their stands.
"You have to stand up for what you think is right," said Rep. Chris Herrod, the sponsor of another get-tough-on-illegal-immigration bill who received a threatening e-mail. "No matter what."