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- Ten immigration bills are on the table as the 2025 Utah legislative session winds down, though some appear to have stalled.
- The foe of one bill aimed at immigrants here illegally who commit certain misdemeanors worries it'll have a bigger impact on immigrants here legally.
- Other bills up for debate focus on sentencing, gun ownership and remittances.
SALT LAKE CITY — While illegal immigration is a big focus of Utah's GOP majority, a critic of one of the key bills put forward to address the issue says it will actually hit immigrants here legally harder.
"This is all part of the Republican hysteria," said Jim McConkie, of the Refugee Justice League, a nonprofit group that offers legal aid to refugees in Utah, referencing the intense focus by Republicans on the immigration issue.
HB226, which is meant to make it easier to deport immigrants here illegally who commit certain misdemeanors, is one of a package of measures lawmakers have proposed to crack down on illegal immigration. But even if it's on a trajectory to passage as the 2025 legislative session starts its final week, McConkie thinks its biggest impact would be on immigrants in Utah legally.
Some 200,000 legal immigrants live in Utah, and HB266's key provision calls for a one-day increase in the jail term for certain class A misdemeanors to a year. This would align Utah with federal policy and reduce the obstacles to deporting immigrants convicted of such crimes, regardless of their migratory status.
"In order to make it easier to get a few illegal immigrants, it puts in jeopardy the lives of 200,000 people who are here legally," McConkie, who testified last week against the measure during a Senate committee meeting, told KSL.com.
While the one-day increase may make it easier to deport those here illegally, as sought, he said it simultaneously makes it easier to deport refugees, legal permanent residents and others here lawfully. What's more, while the class A misdemeanors subject to the jail term increase — from 364 days to 365 days — may sound heinous, the actual misdeeds they represent typically aren't as violent as the crime titles may make it seem.
"They're not the kind of crimes that are a threat to our community. They're making a mountain out of a molehill," McConkie said.
Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, has narrowed the list of class A misdemeanors covered by HB226 in response to the pushback, but she has also indicated there's no way state lawmakers can write the bill to make the one-day sentence increase applicable just to immigrants here illegally. The measure passed in the House and now awaits consideration by the full Senate.
As the 2025 session, scheduled to end Friday, winds down, here's where some of the other measures targeting illegal immigrants stand:
- SB90: The measure mandates tougher sentencing for criminal immigrants here illegally who have been previously convicted of criminal entry into the United States after being deported. If they've previously been convicted of drug crimes or theft in the United States and are convicted again of such crimes in Utah, they'd face mandatory jail sentences. The measure wouldn't apply to the most serious of crimes that result in prison time for offenders. SB90 passed in the Senate and, as of Monday, is awaiting consideration by the full House.
- HB183: The measure would prohibit gun ownership among immigrants with pending asylum cases and petitions for temporary protected status. It passed in the House and awaits Senate consideration as of Monday.
- HB284: The bill calls for the imposition of a 2% tax on international money transfers by immigrants here illegally, though they could claim the tax as a credit when filing income taxes. Remittances by immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador, among other countries, are a big source of income for family and other recipients in their home countries. The bill passed in the House and is to be debated Tuesday by a Senate committee.
- HB38: The measure is touted as a means of cracking down on organized crime, including sexual trafficking in Utah of women from Asia. It's also meant to target gangs by enhancing the criminal classification of certain violent crimes, property crimes and sexual offenses when carried out by two or more people, down from the current threshold of three or more people. It passed in the House, passed on second reading in the full Senate, and awaited a vote on third reading as of Monday.
- HB42: The measure would earmark an additional $500,000 to help school districts experiencing spikes in English-language learners. It passed unanimously in the House and awaited full Senate consideration as of Monday.
- HB87: Spurred in part by concerns about more and more fentanyl making its way to Utah from Mexican drug cartels, the bill makes trafficking of more than 100 grams of the drug a first-degree felony. House lawmakers approved it, and it awaits Senate consideration as of Monday.
Some of the proposals touted as taking aim at immigrants here illegally appeared to be stalled:
- HB392: The measure takes aim at those who drive without licenses, allowing for impoundment of their vehicles with a few exceptions. It passed in the House, but a motion in a Senate committee to give it a favorable recommendation to the full Senate stalled on Friday in a 3-3 vote.
- HB178: The proposal would eliminate provisions in Utah law letting certain immigrant children here illegally access health care coverage via the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. It has yet to get a hearing.
- HB214: The measure would bolster the number of firms that have to use systems like E-Verify to make sure potential hires have proper U.S. work authorization. As is, companies with more than 150 workers have to use such systems; with the passage of this bill, that number would be reduced to 50, which is up from 15 employees as originally proposed. A House committee voted not to advance the measure.
