Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Immigrant advocates in Utah are decrying Gov. Spencer Cox's plans to crack down on people here illegally in concert with President-elect Trump.
- They worry about improper profiling by authorities of the broader immigrant and Latino population and detect a heightened sense of fear among immigrants.
- One immigrant advocacy group instead calls for "community-building policies," not "fear-based" initiatives.
SALT LAKE CITY — Some advocates for Utah's immigrant community are dismayed and alarmed at Gov. Spencer Cox's plans to take parallel action in support of President-elect Donald Trump's plans to bolster deportations of immigrants here illegally.
Though Cox plans to target immigrants here illegally who have committed crimes and "pose a threat to public safety," immigrant advocates worry the efforts will ensnare other immigrants and Latinos through improper profiling. They also worry that his planned efforts, announced Tuesday, will stir fear and division.
"The message to me is divisive," said Ysabel Lonazco, a West Valley immigration attorney. "This is just a message of fear."
Lonazco thinks Cox's plans — which also drew fire from the Democratic leaders of the Utah Senate and House — are vague in some respects, raising questions and red flags. She wonders if the end result will be state workers calling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials when they encounter someone they suspect is here illegally, perhaps when applying for a Utah driving privilege card. Such driver identification cards are meant for people here illegally, among others.
"If I go get my ID ... are they going to call ICE on me?" she asked.
Similarly, Mayra Molina, leader of the Venezuelan Alliance of Utah, worries about profiling — that a broader swath of immigrants, maybe even U.S. citizen Latinos, will face increased scrutiny from law enforcement officials and others involved in the initiative. Leaders from the group, which represents Venezuelans and Venezuelan Americans living in Utah, met Tuesday evening to discuss the matter.
"We're just concerned there might be an occasion where racial profiling will be used against the Latino community," Molina said. "Does that mean we have to carry our passport all the time?"
News of Cox's initiative comes amid increasing calls by many for increased security along the U.S.-Mexico border and worries that the population of people here illegally is surging, priority concerns for Trump in his presidential bid. The issue was a key factor in propelling Trump, a Republican, to victory.
"When it comes to immigration policy, the safety of Utah residents is my top priority," Cox, also a Republican, said in a statement, also noting the cost in public funding of contending with immigrants here illegally. Among other things, the governor plans to bolster training and guidance for local and state authorities in identifying "criminal illegal immigrants" who should be turned over to federal immigration officials.
But Aden Batar, director of migration and refugee services for Catholic Community Services, says immigration enforcement is the domain of federal authorities, not local officials, calling into question Cox's plans. Salt Lake City-based Catholic Community Services offers legal aid to immigrants and also assists refugee newcomers to the United States.
"The enforcement of immigration, it is a federal job, and I think we need to leave that job for the federal authorities," he said, noting the complexities of parsing the status of people seeking asylum, awaiting immigration court dates and more. "Otherwise, it's going to create a lot of disruption in our community and it's going to create racial profiling. ... Most of the time, local law enforcement, they don't know who's legal in the country and who is undocumented."
Like Lonazco and Molina, Batar understands the need for federal officials to enforce the law in seeking out criminal immigrants, but also called for "a balance" in immigration policy.
"There's a lot of people in our community who are providing to their families, who are law-abiding citizens, who are here to escape war and unrest, political unrest in their home countries, that are applying (for) asylum," he said. "There's so many people that have different immigration statuses. ... We don't need to create this disruption in their situation," he said.
Many Catholic Community Services clients, he said, are increasingly fearful of the "mass deportation" initiative Trump promises once he gets into office, underscoring what Lonazco worries may be a growing sense of alarm and apprehension toward law enforcement by immigrants.
"Are we saying that we should be scared of the police now, the local police? That means I can't report a crime because I'm undocumented and ... they are going to be targeting me because I entered without documents?" she said.
Comunidades Unidas, a West Valley City-based immigrant advocacy group, expressed disappointment with Cox's announcement and decried the scapegoating it says immigrants face at the hands of political leaders.
"Rather than investing in fear-based policies, we urge our state leaders to prioritize community-building initiatives that strengthen Utah," the group said in a statement. "Deportation does not equate to making our communities safer; instead, it undermines the very communities that Utah depends on to flourish."
The group calls for policies "that uphold the dignity and humanity of all Utahns."
