It's been about two weeks since a major immigration law went into effect in Utah. So now we can see what SB 81 has actually done.
Depending on which partisans you ask, jackbooted storm troopers are making mass arrests of decent, law-abiding immigrants across the state, or crime is plummeting and business is booming in the wake of deportations.
In truth there has been no major upheaval.
What will happen in the long run? It might help to look at the key parts of the law:
• The law requires a sheriff to make a reasonable effort to determine a jail inmate's citizenship and to consider an illegal immigrant a flight risk. These seem fairly obvious.
• Illegal immigrants can't get a liquor or private club license. But considering the obstacles Utah still places before people who want to serve legal beverages, why would an illegal immigrant want to get into this business?
• The law creates identification documents for U.S. citizens, nationals or legal permanent resident aliens and places time restrictions on documents when immigration status is in question. However, people have shown they are willing and able to forge documents, or to ignore the legal mandates.
• Public employers are required to use the Status Verification System for new employees. With the recession, however, public employers shouldn't be hiring anyone anyway.
• The law also bans public employers from firing a lawful employee while still employing an illegal immigrant. How does a public employer come to hire an illegal immigrant in the first place? Bureaucrats constantly harp on the stringent standards applicants must meet.
• Agencies must verify citizenship before providing federal, state or local public benefits. So if an illegal alien with no money shows up at an emergency room bleeding copiously, the hospital won't stitch up the wounds? Seems unlikely.
• Procedures have been set up for making state and local officers eligible to enforce federal immigration laws. But the great majority of Utah law enforcement agencies claim have they don't have the money, time or manpower to handle an added job. Some apparently have no desire to do this job, and the law can't make them.
• Makes transporting or harboring an illegal alien for financial gain a Class A misdemeanor. It's hard to see that a misdemeanor will deter anyone hardened or desperate enough to smuggle people across the border and into Utah.
In light of all this, SB 81 may not accomplish much. The legal aspects are limited. As for economics, the continuing recession is having a much bigger impact than this state law ever would.
The law doesn't really address the issue of private businesses that, knowingly or not, hire illegal aliens. Nor does it address widespread sympathy for the many people who came here to improve their lives and who have contributed positively to the state.
If the law is unlikely to have a huge impact on the streets or in the job market, it nevertheless is having some effect in the political world.
State Rep. Chris Herrod, R-Provo, has engaged in a running debate with Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank and Mayor Ralph Becker about the impact of illegal immigration on crime, with the Sutherland Institute and other politicians chiming in.
But even this limited slice of the issue has problems. Some observers hope the law would at least allow the authorities to find out how many illegal immigrants there are in jail. That, however, will require "reasonable" efforts by law agencies, and there's no guarantee that will be forthcoming.
Nor is it likely that someone languishing in the slammer will willingly pipe up, "Oh, by the way, I sneaked across the border in 2005. Just thought you'd want to know."
Identifying how many illegals are in custody won't end the questions in any case. Since nobody really knows how many illegal immigrants there are in Utah, it's hard to know whether the number of aliens in jail reflects a disproportionate impact.
Anyway, the number incarcerated only shows suspects who have been apprehended. Maybe illegal immigrants have a tougher time dodging the law or making bail.
Finally, no matter how many illegals are in jail, most illegal aliens cause no trouble. The crime issue is only one a small part of the legal, political and social quandaries attached to this issue.
All in all, the activation of Utah's biggest immigration law in years may have little effect. There's a limit to what a state law can do, and SB 81 may be at that limit.
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