4/7/08-15

Immigration

For a month and a half, Utahns pleaded with, demanded of and even threatened lawmakers to finally do something about illegal immigration.

Sweeping reform was passed, but in the last minutes of the 2008 legislative session a key piece of the puzzle was left out over "a game of chicken" between the House and Senate, and now leaders of both are scrambling to fix it after the fact.

An immigration task force proposed by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, died after the House took offense at a move in the Senate to get some money for a separate education task force. Instead of fixing the problem, they let task forces for immigration and education die on the board.

"I guess we got caught up in a game of chicken," Jenkins said.

The immigration task force was supposed to bridge the next 18 months when Senate Bill 81 goes into effect, toughening up enforcement, employment requirements, ID theft, liquor licenses and more. That bill was delayed explicitly to await the task force results.

States like Oklahoma and Arizona have faced unforeseen economic impacts and lawsuits after passing strict laws against illegal immigration.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said on Friday that he's working with Speaker of the House Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, to move some money into additional interim committees. That doesn't make Jenkins any happier.

"If they can just do it, then why didn't they just let it pass?" he said. "Now that it's turned into a political football I'm not sure I care."