This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah's "immigration solution" is not a guest worker program ("Immigration's 'Utah Solution,'" Tribune, March 16). Utah's new welcome sign and law is amnesty for any illegal immigrant from Guatemala, Mexico, Arizona and California who can get here by May.
According to now-signed-into-law House Bill 116, just "pay a fine equal to … $2,500, if the undocumented individual enters into the United States illegally," and then stay for life — that's amnesty for those who have already broken the law.
We believe in honoring and obeying and sustaining the law of the land, not in aiding those who break the law. Illegal activity is still illegal.
Utah's new law encourages others to break the law by entering the United States illegally and flocking to Utah for amnesty.
It will increase the number of illegal immigrants here who receive free services.
Illegal immigrants receive free medical care because the law says that emergency rooms cannot turn away anyone. Illegal immigrant children receive free education, further flooding our crowded schools with non-English-speaking kids and swamping our overworked teachers.
All paid by us through skyrocketing medical insurance rates and taxes and bankrupting small businesses and state governments. This is absurd!
Paul Harrison
Draper