KVNUFTP

MEDIA ADVISORY
November 30th, 2010

CONTACTS:

Senator Luz Robles
Utah State Senate
801-550-6434
lrobles@utahsenate.org

Stan Rasmussen
Sutherland Institute
801-718-1841
srasmussen@sutherlandinstitute.org

IMMIGRANT ACCOUNTABILITY BILL DRAFT TO BE INTRODUCED TODAY AT 3:00 PM
STATE CAPITOL

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah State Senator Luz Robles, Paul Mero of Sutherland
Institute, and representatives of community organizations will introduce
the working draft of a bill that creates an accountability framework and
process for undocumented immigrants living in Utah. The press
conference will be held today at 3:00 p.m., in the Capitol Board Room,
located on the east end of the second floor of the State Capitol
building.

The proposed legislation is the product of collaborative efforts
pursued over the past several months. To date, participants have
included Republican and Democratic state legislators; community,
business, and government leaders; local, state and federal law
enforcement officials; and responsible citizens committed to finding a
way – and creating a functional mechanism – to appropriately and
effectively address the many challenges associated with illegal
immigrants residing in the state.

The draft bill does not create a guest worker program as it does not
deal with immigration status, nor does it provide anything resembling a
*path to citizenship* or amnesty, as these are federal matters. It
focuses instead on issues pertaining to undocumented immigrants living
in Utah.

A working draft is being presented now in the expectation that with
additional input from interested parties the bill will be ready for
consideration by the Legislature when it convenes in January.

Copies of the proposed bill will be made available at today’s press
conference.

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[NOTE: Text of the bill can be found here]