Words are idiotic

Only the Deseret News editorial staff — or a pack of village idiots — could use the words "law-abiding" and "undocumented" to describe the exact same people.  Is it any wonder so many of us are leaving the mainstream media and turning to alternative outlets for our news?

Korte Young  Milford  Deseret News Nov. 7, 2009

Only for citizens

SL Tribune Nov. 30, 2009

By:  Ronald Mortensen      Bountiful

So, because of SB81, Utah's new anti-illegal immigration law, a donor may cancel a $180,000 scholarship endowment at the College of Eastern Utah ("Utah colleges say SB81 difficult to implement," Tribune , Oct. 24). Apparently, the donor may not want students to undergo an immigration-status check.  Read The Letter

Protecting Citizens' Jobs

Deseret News Oct 20, 2009

I'm wondering what ever happened to Utah House Joint Resolution 25 (HJR 25)? It was supposed to protect Utah residents who have the legal right to work in this state. Many of us are still in need of something that will protect our jobs from those who are destroying the construction industry for the legal U.S. citizens here in the state.

The use of illegal immigrants in the construction field by large Utah companies is destroying the possibility of having work and a decent wage in the skills we have spent years perfecting. If the government won't protect its people, then who will? We as legal citizens deserve to have our livelihoods protected the same as the auto industry. But all we ask is for there to be verification that our competitors are not unfairly underbidding by taking advantage of a person's illegal status.

Jared Daley

Provo

Fix Immigration First

Aug 29, 2009 Deseret News

No way should we legislate health care until we have cleaned up the mess that immigration has left. I am not giving my elected representatives permission to use U.S. taxpayer dollars to provide health care for millions of illegals and others who are not entitled.

No health-care reform until we finish the job of illegal immigration. It has not always been the problem it is now. But unless we address it and solve it, it will always be a problem.

Kathleen Allred  (Herriman)

Health care for illegals?

Deseret News August 19, 2009

So if Obama Care wins out, will it cover illegal aliens? If so, will the floodgates open more than they are now?

And does that make me a racist for asking that question, even if I do not want illegals from Spain, Italy, England or Canada jumping on the bandwagon?

Robert Payne

Riverton

LDS and immigration

 SL Tribune 07/23/2009

In the story about undocumented immigrants as Mormon missionaries ("Without purse, script or citizenship?" Tribune , July 11), Rebecca Van Uitert was quoted as saying, "I have learned to listen to the Spirit. When God tells me to do something, I do it."

Great advice. The difficulty is deciding which thoughts come from God and which are our own desires and wishes. Not every thought that enters our minds is from God, and with a little effort we can justify almost any behavior.

Because I believe God loves all of us equally, I don't believe he tells anybody (including religious leaders) from any country to sneak into the United States illegally, butting in line ahead of thousands trying honestly and legally to enter our country. Nor would God tell anyone to steal or buy a stolen Social Security number or falsely fill out an I-9 employment verification form.

I believe in the Mormon Articles of Faith, including the one that says we should obey, honor and sustain the law. I believe in always trying to be "honest in our dealings with our fellow men." The Heavenly Father I have faith in encourages and endorses honesty and respect.

Todd Andrizzi

Sandy

Burbank off Base

SL Tribune July 10, 2009

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank is off base in "New immigration law sets dangerous precedent" (Opinion, July 4). As far as comparing those who want immigration reform to the propaganda minister of Adolf Hitler, this is repulsive as well as foolish. The chief states that what happened with blacks with the Jim Crow laws can happen with immigrants, but I do not recall any illegal immigrants being hung in this state.

When Chief Burbank compares today's illegal immigrants to Latter-day Saints in the 1840s being driven out of their homes and being forced to move to this valley (which at the time was Mexican territory), he again makes a foolish statement. Mormons did not steal Social Security numbers, use forged documents, and lie to employers about the fact that they were in the country illegally. They were law-abiding people.

As far as the chief's statement that the republic is not based on the concept of majority rule, he needs to read Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

William Caughey, West Jordan

Incendiary Language

Salt Lake Tribune July 10, 2009

Labeling those Utahns who support legislation that fortifies federal immigration law "hotheads" who indulge their "baser instincts" only infuriates those who want the state to fill a void the feds have created ("Immigration law: Not a nice reflection on Utah," Opinion, July 2). Such incendiary statements are barriers to an amicable immigration solution.

The editorial calls Utah's new immigration law, SB81, "misguided." Who would you have the Legislature "pander" to, illegal residents or citizens and legal residents? Immigration and guest-worker programs exist to supplement labor shortfalls that businesses encounter. But to enhance their profits, many businesses circumvent these programs by hiring illegal laborers who choose to ignore those legal guidelines.

A discussion about immigration must be frank and honest, but injecting discrimination and the emotional aspects of immigration is not warranted. The discussion does not involve ethnicity or demographics. It is about U.S. labor requirements, immigration for a sustainable population level, a society governed by laws, and restoring integrity to the workplace and our immigration system.

July 1, 2009 -- "not a day to be proud of"? I respectfully take exception. SB81 was long in coming and far past due.

Mark C. Ferguson, Salt Lake City

By gum!

SLTrib Updated: 07/09/2009 06:49:04 PM MDT

After reading Stuart Reid's letter, "Last to first" (Forum, July 6), I felt many emotions -- humor, disgust and a little by-gumness. Reid is unhappy with Utah's new immigration law, SB81. He quotes scriptural texts from the "dominant religion's" Book of Mormon. He is unhappy that our elected officials did not do as he felt his good book and religion would have them do.

Without getting too far into it, there are reasons we have the separation between church and state, and our state is finally making some progress. If Reid does not know these reasons, he needs to do his homework on world history. And no, this is not taught in those three hours on Sunday.

It is amusing that he quotes scripture only when it helps his point. I'm sure the good book also has many quotes on what to do with trespassers and lawbreakers, but that would of course contradict Reid's point. By gum.

Rick Miller, Holladay

Chief has it wrong

I don't know where to begin when discussing Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank's "New immigration law sets dangerous precedent" (Opinion, July 4) -- the hyperbole of comparing those who disagree with his opinion as being Nazis, or the misrepresentation of Senate Bill 81, Utah's new immigration law, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program.

Under SB81, whether police units become 287(g) certified is voluntary, and Burbank knows this. Since this option has been available to Utah police units for years, there is no change with SB81. Those two county units in Utah that are certified to enforce immigration laws certainly do not practice Gestapo techniques. I am sure that the main problem Chief Burbank has is that under SB81 police units may not hide information or be uncooperative with ICE.

I hope the people of Salt Lake City don't mind being a "sanctuary city," because, if the opinions expressed by Chief Burbank are policy, that will happen. His opinions don't improve the illegal immigration problem in Utah or Salt Lake City; they enable it.

Gaylan Stewart,  Spanish Fork

What other country in the world would consider it so? If you think so, you haven't lived abroad as I have for many years and traveled extensively.

These illegal aliens are not just "crossing the borders." They are availing themselves of all that goes with staying here. There is no doubt that this continued invasion of illegal aliens has contributed to the present situation in California and elsewhere. Of course, all should be treated humanely and with compassion. But they simply do not belong here.

Jerry Molloy,  Cottonwood Heights

Scrutinize illegals

 Deseret News July 5, 2009

The Sutherland Institute says that only 4 percent of Utah's inmates are illegals. Well, if there's the same proportion in the general population, that is 80,000 illegal alien adults among us soaking up jobs and social service resources. That is the population of Provo.

I can only wonder at the real motivation of these rich "conservatives" who wish to keep so many illegals in Utah. The only thing I can guess at is they want to suppress wages, avoid paying Social Security taxes and avoid normal worker benefits and insurance while displacing legal workers who would rightly and legally expect such things.

Maybe there needs to be closer federal scrutiny on what is going on.

R. Scott Ormond,  American Fork

Immigrants avoid jail  

Deseret News July 3, 2009

The Sutherland Institute's study on illegal-immigrant crime, cited in the Deseret News editorial "A sad day for Utah," is very misleading. It claims that illegal immigrants make up less than 5 percent of Utah's jail and prison population and concludes that illegals do not have a disproportionate rate of crime.

Judges often take a "hands off" approach to illegals who are arrested. They are frequently turned over to immigration authorities and are subsequently taken back to the border or released back onto our streets, eluding incarceration. The actual number of crimes committed is revealed by the number of arrests, and these do indeed reflect a higher crime rate among illegal aliens. Our current, broken system simply allows them to avoid jail and prison time in Utah.

Last to first

SL Trib  Updated: 07/02/2009 04:23:59 PM MDT

As a Utah resident, I am ashamed of the new immigration law, SB81. Much is made of a "dominant religion" in the Utah Legislature; this is one time when religious principles were abandoned by legislators.

It's alarming that those who could have created a model for national immigration exemplifying compassion did just the opposite by demonstrating bigotry. They know better.

They know these immigrants should be helped to "blossom as a rose" by being "carried in our arms and on our shoulders"; they know we are to be "nursing fathers and mothers" to them (see 1 Nephi 21:22 in the Book of Mormon).

In SB81, the legislators who belong to the dominant religion rejected responsibility and failed the least of us, and in so doing have failed all of us. No wonder that in the end, "the last shall be first, and the first last" (Matthew 20:16). With the attitudes reflected in SB81, our legislators just guaranteed all that goes with that statement.

Stuart C. Reid, Ogden

(Comment: Mr Reid seems to have trouble differentiating between legal and illegal immigrant)

Where's the compassion?

SL Tribune  06/29/2009

As I read "Lawsuit looms over SB81," regarding groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Latino lobbyists threatening to sue over the "rights" of illegal aliens to hold taxpayer-funded jobs, it left me wondering about the rights of U.S. citizens to hold them.

The common tactic of these pro-illegal immigration groups is to accuse as racist or part of a "hate group" any American who voices a concern that our immigration laws are not being enforced. This is an overused but effective means of slapping an unofficial gag order on American citizens, who are among the most compassionate and generous people.

I respect our naturalized citizens who value our country enough to come here legally more than I do some other citizens who take it for granted. My beef is not with any racial or ethnic group. I don't care if you're white, Canadian, black, brown, yellow or plaid. If you're one of the 7.7 million people who are now illegally holding American jobs while 14 million unemployed Americans are desperately seeking them, that's wrong.

SB81 doesn't even affect private businesses that still hire illegal aliens; only taxpayer-funded jobs. Where is the compassion for the American people?

Valerie Walker, Sandy

Waylaying SB81

It is interesting that attorneys who oppose Senate Bill 81 waited until 10 days before implementation of the immigration bill, which has already been delayed a year, to attempt further delaying action. Was the date a surprise?