Immigration: a Federal Problem
Regarding governmental issues the Utah Bee usually focuses on the State Legislature and Utah cities, towns, and counties. The Bee’s recent series on immigration, however, discusses the legislative role of the federal government. The reason for this is that the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over immigration and naturalization laws and regulations.
It is an incredible frustration to the Utah Legislature and our local governments that any action they might take on immigration is pre-empted by Congress; however, other than giving big speeches on the campaign trail, United States Senators and Representatives run from the hot-button issue as if it were a monster. Borne of frustration by the federal inaction, the Utah Legislature actually passed immigration and naturalization legislation in 2010—which was quickly shelved because of the federal pre-emption issue.
One of the tragedies of Congress’ abdication of its responsibilities to effectively govern immigration is the brutal exploitation of good individuals and families. Hungry people want to come to America for opportunity. America needs these enterprising, hard-working individuals to perform much of the labor that fires our economy. But, rather than open the front door with an effective immigration system, Congress’ hard pass on the issue opens the backdoor, meaning America still benefits from the labor, but the laborers don’t fully benefit from America. The labor is eagerly accepted, but the rights that should belong to the laborers are withheld—because they were forced to come through the backdoor.
The three articles posted in the Utah Bee sketch a picture of life for immigrants in Utah. The Utah Bee will continue to report on immigration issues and will always encourage voters to instruct members of Utah’s congressional delegation to do their job and work on opening the front door to enterprising individuals and families that are willing to chase the American dream.