Daily Herald, June 30, 2011
Billy Hesterman

PROVO -- Utah County Democrats spoke out Thursday against the Republican delegates who voted for a resolution urging state lawmakers to repeal an immigration reform bill (House Bill 116), as well as Republican lawmakers who have fought against the bill.

Will Matheson, Utah County Democratic Party chairman, was joined by Jose Inclan, chairman of the Utah County Hispanic Democratic Committee, on the steps of the Historic Utah County Courthouse in Provo. They said that the immigration debate had taken a radical and dangerous turn where civility, truth and compassion had been replaced by fear, misinformation and persecution.

"Elected Republican legislators of this county are out of touch with the majority of its citizens. Rather than representing the majority of Utahns' interests, they have consistently chosen to represent fringe extremist interest groups and delegates," Matheson said. "When major religious organizations, businesses and a 61 percent majority of Utahns are all opposed to the repeal of House Bill 116, and the GOP delegates still push even farther to the right, you know that something is wrong."

They also condemned the rhetoric that Republican lawmakers who opposed the bill used in the debates for the bill, which contains a provision that creates a guest worker permit program for undocumented immigrants that resided in the state prior to May 10. The law does not go into effect until July 1, 2013.

Inclan said some Republican lawmakers argued that undocumented immigrants were largely responsible for the identity thefts that had taken place in Utah. Inclan stated that was simply untrue. He said that up until 2004 a person who received a driver's license in the state could also get a social security number with that license. He says that is how many undocumented workers have social security numbers now. Matheson warned that he thinks the arguments used by Republicans were having a deeper effect on the state than they realize.

"The Republican representatives and delegates need to realize that their rhetoric and policies have consequences that negatively affect not only Hispanic individuals, citizens and non-citizens alike, but that it also affects our communities and our businesses as a population of Utah," Matheson said.

Matheson and Inclan do find themselves on the same side as Republicans on one issue though. Both sides say that any immigration legislation should be handled on a federal level and not by the state Legislature.

"We recognize that this is a federal issue, and that is what we would like to see. We would like to see a comprehensive immigration solution come from the federal government," Inclan said.