Utah GOP lawmakers give ‘glimpse’ of plans to back Trump’s push for mass deportations

Utah’s Republican supermajority Legislature has detailed plans for how it will support President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

On Monday, GOP lawmakers announced more than a dozen measures to give the public a “glimpse into the package we’re proposing.”

House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, of Clearfield, said in an interview she has been in contact with the incoming administration on efforts to back its changes to immigration policy — specifically issues such as jail capacity for detained immigrants.

Republican lawmakers standing shoulder to shoulder at the Capitol characterized the measures as primarily addressing public safety concerns — a delineation Minority Leader Angela Romero, who sat on a bench observing the event, challenged.

Romero, D-Salt Lake City, is president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators. She told reporters that associating public safety problems with immigrants leads to large groups of people being impacted by misinformation around immigrants.

“What about mixed-status families and other individuals that are getting caught up with the rhetoric here?” Romero asked. “Because I’ve had people who live in my district tell me that people are telling them to ‘Go back to where they came from,’ to ‘Go home.’ They’re feeling like people are being hostile toward them.”

A U.S. Department of Justice-funded study by the University of Wisconsin, published last year, found that “undocumented immigrants” are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes, and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes.

Lisonbee, in an interview, responded, “We’re not making laws that would just affect immigrants. If there are people committing crimes in their communities, we will address it.”

What lawmakers are proposing

Measures publicly discussed Monday did not include some of the more severe approaches Romero was expecting, she said, including the elimination of driver privilege cards for immigrants and in-state tuition for Utahns without citizenship status.

The proposed pieces of legislation largely had not yet appeared on the Legislature’s website Monday afternoon. “Details of several pieces of legislation are still being worked through,” Lisonbee said from a podium.

A flyer distributed at the news conference included more than a dozen proposed measures calling for the state to:

• Increase the penalty for trafficking fentanyl.

• Strengthen law enforcement’s ability to disrupt the supply of dangerous drugs, especially fentanyl, in Utah.

• Enhance penalties for gang crimes, retail theft, and for recruiting or coercing minors to join gangs.

• Create a penalty enhancement for immigrants lacking permanent legal status who commit a violent felony after previously being convicted of the federal crime of unlawful entry.

• Raise the criminal penalty for Class A misdemeanors to align with federal law.

• Direct judges to view undocumented immigrants or asylum seekers as high flight risks when considering bail

• Require undocumented individuals to be deported, rather than being released, after being incarcerated.

• Bar nonprofits from knowingly transporting undocumented individuals into Utah.

• Boost the criminal penalties for human trafficking.

• Require law enforcement to impound vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers and raise the fee to recover cars.

• Increase the penalty for driving without a license.

• Raise the number of employers required to use E-Verify to ensure employees have legal authorization to work.

• Protect property rights by involving law enforcement earlier to remove trespassers.

• Allow schools that see significant increases in the number of English language learners access to emergency funds to help them train additional [English language learner] teachers.

• Impose a 2% fee on international wire transfers that’s reimbursable for tax filers or waived for people who present a valid state identification.

• Expand detention capacity to facilitate deportations of immigrants lacking permanent legal status who commit crimes in Utah.

Teaming up with the governor

Lawmakers’ announcement follows one by Gov. Spencer Cox in late November that his administration plans to support the incoming White House in deporting undocumented immigrants.

Among the bullet points included in a news release was a promise to “work with the Utah Legislature in the upcoming legislative session on a variety of policy enhancements associated with criminal behavior by illegal immigrants.” Lisonbee said lawmakers have been working with the Cox administration as they have shaped and drafted the planned bills.

The legislators’ announcement signals a growing about-face of sorts on immigration policy by Utah Republicans.

The state has previously been an outlier among red states in how it approaches immigration issues. More than a decade ago, public officials and influential Utahns signed onto the Utah Compact on immigration — a declaration urging humane treatment of immigrants, keeping families together, and focusing deportation on serious criminals. The pact was reaffirmed six years ago.

One of Monday’s proposals would reverse a 6-year-old Republican-introduced law meant to combat the first Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, said a bill she is putting forward would increase the punishment of Class A misdemeanors by a day. In 2019, lawmakers voted to lower penalties for such crimes by a day to help them avoid the risk of automatic deportation.

Civil rights concerns

The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah responded to Cox’s announcement to crack down on immigrants who commit crimes with an article stating, “If you care about the rule of law, you should be appalled by Gov. Cox’s immigration proposal.”

The organization said such policies endanger due process and civil rights for Utahns of color and immigrants, regardless of their legal status. An ACLU spokesperson said it is working on “build up our coalition partnerships in this space, along with looking at increasing our ability to respond to issues.”

Hispanic Utahns are among the most underrepresented groups in the Legislature. A Salt Lake Tribune analysis found that although U.S. Census Bureau estimates place the percentage of Hispanics in the state at around 16%, fewer than 5% of lawmakers identify as such.

Romero warned that immigration is an area the Legislature should be wary of wading into, emphasizing that border-related policymaking is typically reserved for the federal government. She expressed disappointment in Congress’ failure to pass a bipartisan bill addressing immigration early last year, with Republicans opposing it at the behest of Trump.

“Until Congress gets off their damn hands and does something about this,” Romero said, “this has continued to be an issue here in Utah and across the country, and innocent people are going to be caught up in all of this rhetoric.”