Immigration Politics - Utah OpEd: Ultimately, Congress will have to tackle immigration law

Ultimately, Congress will have to tackle immigration law: "Once Utah’s immigration enforcement bill finally passed early last week, more than 40 lawmakers, all but two of them Republicans, congratulated themselves on a tough job done well.

But for those who worry about civil liberties, HB497 has fostered ever more concern about unintended consequences the bill could have on all Utahns, not just undocumented immigrants.

In a preliminary analysis, the national and Utah American Civil Liberties Union says the bill gives Utah police officers the authority to investigate a person’s immigration status if they’re suspected of felony or misdemeanor crimes.

That, says Karen McCreary, executive director of the Utah ACLU, puts the burden of immigration enforcement on officers who likely won’t be well-trained in the complexities of such enforcement. ...

The ACLU, as well as the National Immigration Law Center and other groups, worry that Utah has leaned too much on Arizona’s much criticized and litigated SB1070, which also tried to put immigration enforcement in the hands of local authorities.

As for the systematic problems with federal immigration law, McCreary says, “I wish we could put all this energy, this focus, into putting on pressure and coming up with something on a national basis.”"