Citizens for Immigrants
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Showing posts tagged Utah
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THE UTAH COMPACT: A declaration of five principles to guide Utah’s immigration discussion
FEDERAL SOLUTIONS Immigration is a federal policy issue between the U.S. government and other countries—not Utah and other countries. We urge Utah’s congressional delegation, and others, to lead efforts to strengthen federal laws and protect our national borders. We urge state leaders to adopt reasonable policies addressing immigrants in Utah.
LAW ENFORCEMENT We respect the rule of law and support law enforcement’s professional judgment and discretion. Local law enforcement resources should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of federal code.
FAMILIES Strong families are the foundation of successful communities. We oppose policies that unnecessarily separate families. We champion policies that support families and improve the health, education and well-being of all Utah children.
ECONOMY Utah is best served by a free-market philosophy that maximizes individual freedom and opportunity. We acknowledge the economic role immigrants play as workers and taxpayers. Utah’s immigration policies must reaffirm our global reputation as a welcoming and business-friendly state.
A FREE SOCIETY Immigrants are integrated into communities across Utah. We must adopt a humane approach to this reality, reflecting our unique culture, history and spirit of inclusion. The way we treat immigrants will say more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors. Utah should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill.
The Utah Compact was developed over several months by groups and individuals who were concerned about the tone of Utah’s immigration discussion. The Compact is based on Utah values and we urge our leaders to use these guiding principles as they address the complex challenges associated with a broken national immigration system. The Compact has broad support from community leaders, business associations, law enforcement officers and members of Utah’s religious community. It is a simple document that expresses our values as community as they relate to specific policy issues that have become central to the immigration discussion.
Also see New York Times OpEd on the Utah Compact.
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Different laws, particularly enforcement-only initiatives, played out in 50 states are bound to fail, since they will not fix a broken federal immigration system. Immigrants, over 70 percent of whom have been here five years or longer, are not leaving; they are just hiding in fear.
We must continue to fight because of the real suffering that is occurring in immigrant families and communities. There are four million US citizen children who have one or more undocumented parents. The combination of federal-state enforcement partnerships and federal enforcement actions has led to an unprecedented separation of families. Nearly a quarter of those deported in the last year were part of a family with a US-citizen—most likely a child. They also have led to a record number of deportations over the past three years.
Addressing a Catholic conference on immigration, Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City urged Catholics to advocate for immigration reform at the federal level.(Source: catholicculture.org)
