There's been an interesting debate going back and forth at the State Legislature this session. The context of the argument comes in the discussion of illegal immigration. It has been said multiple times throughout the session that there are over 100,000 undocumented immigrants in the state of Utah. Lawmakers are trying to find a way to best manage the undocumented immigrants in various ideas.
Some are proposing laws that create tough law enforcement measures that are aimed at encouraging the undocumented immigrants to self deport from the state. Others are pushing laws that would create a guest worker program that immigrants can apply for and gain a guest worker status in the state. The latter proposal is technically unconstitutional since the federal government has the responsibility of dealing with immigration in the country, but since the feds aren't doing anything about it, Utah lawmakers are taking matters into their own hands.
It has been an interesting process to observe, and I should say I am only observing. I really have no horse in this race. I don't know any illegal immigrants and I don't really know what the right solution is. I hear both sides and it does push me to think you need both laws to make it all work, but that is just my uneducated opinion on the situation. I haven't spoken with law enforcement about what is reality and I haven't spoken with the immigration population to see what challenges they face, I'm strictly pontificating on what I have watched taking place at the capitol for the last month.
The first group at the capitol is pushing a law enforcement only style immigration bill. The bill would give law enforcement officials the option to check the immigration status of someone being charged with a crime. Many in this group do not want to see a guest worker bill. They demand that the rule of law be honored. People have come into the country illegally and a guest worker program is only rewarding bad behavior. They also worry that Utah creating a guest worker program is only putting an "illegal immigrants welcome here" sign on the state.
The second group isn't opposed to a tough law enforcement bill, but they also want a guest worker program. There are different versions of the guest worker program being proposed but the general idea is that the undocumented worker pay a fine for being illegal. Then they can apply for a guest worker permit that allows them and their immediate family to stay in the state legally, as long as the guest worker has a job. Again, the idea is currently unconstitutional, but it is an idea on how to deal with those that already here. The first group call this idea "amnesty" and strongly oppose any idea like this.
The question in this debate seems to be, do you believe in the rule of law or do you believe in the idea of having compassion? Yes, everyone should follow the law and we should penalize those who break the law. And, yes we should show compassion on those who have come here, even if it is illegally.
The best way I can think to describe the odd predicament our state is facing is this way: Say a person came into your store and stole a candy bar, but after catching the person you find out the only reason they stole the candy bar was because they had nothing to eat and no way to pay for it. They should be punished for stealing that candy bar, but doesn't the christian in you say that maybe you should help them get some food on their table?
If you say no, they did me wrong and I don't need to help them, I respect that. You're right, they should be punished.
But what do you do if there were 100 people that came and stole the candy bar that were in the same situation? Our jails are full. To put these people in jail we would need to release criminals that have committed more serious crimes than stealing the candy bar. Some say put the illegal immigrants on a bus and take them back to where they came from. I just don't think that is a realistic option, I certainly don't want to see my tax dollars spent on doing something like that.
So this is where the legislature stands at the moment. It looks as if the lawmakers will pass a tough law enforcement bill. But it also looks like they will pass some kind of guest worker program. I don't know what will happen with the guest worker program. It is unconstitutional, but don't many good ideas come from looking at the status quo and then saying "we can do better"?
It's been a tough process to watch and I don't envy the lawmakers who will have to make this tough decision on what is the right thing to do. There should be respect for the law and we should not reward bad behavior. But aren't we told to be as the good Samaritan and have compassion on our neighbors? This is one of those areas where there probably isn't a completely right or a completely wrong answer, we'll see what happens.
2 comments:
None of the various solution actually solves the issue of illegal immigration. The enforcement style bill Sandstrom has proposed has lost a lot of it's teeth and even if it passes and IF law enforcement officials arrest those who are here legally, it will just become a catch and release program because only the federal government has the authority to deport someone. But even still, an enforcement style bill (even if they had the power to deport)would only be a minor band-aid to the issue and you would have a prohibition type issues with illegal immigration.
People often forget that the whole illegal immigration problem started not with the Feds not acting upon immigration laws currently in place but by enacting ridiculous immigration policies in the first place in 1969. Notice we didn't have an "illegal" immigration problem prior to that but shortly thereafter, well... we have seen what has happened.
Regardless of whether the various bills get passed into law it won't fix the "illegals" from coming here to the extent that it solves any of the issues that we are facing and definitely not to the extent that any of us will notice. (This is assuming both pass Constitutional muster in the first place).
People are so focused on pressuring our state legislators one way or the other when the fact of the matter is that until the federal government implements rational and just immigration laws, we will continue to have this illegal issue. So much time and effort wasted on ultimately something that will not solve any of the issues we look to fix.
meant to say illegally not legally in the first paragraph.
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