Immigrant sponsorship program denies dignity to workers

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City

In an earlier article, I discussed Utah’s well-intentioned, but troublesome, Guest Worker Permit legislation, including the constitutional and humanitarian concerns raised by the law. House Bill 469 Immigration Related Amendments also creates a new, Utah-specific permit that provides added, and equally unconstitutional, opportunities to mislead Utah’s undocumented population.

The statute creates a Pilot Sponsored Resident Immigrant Program beginning in 2013. Utah citizens could "sponsor" a foreign national to live and work or study in Utah. The foreign national would be granted a Resident Immigrant Permit to reside in Utah and the sponsor would accept full financial liability, "equivalent to the financial responsibility that a parent has for a dependent child," for the foreign national during his stay. To qualify, the immigrant must reside outside of the United States at the time he seeks a permit, must pass background and health checks, and must have a sponsor. The sponsor must prove an annual income at least 125 percent above the federal poverty level. The Resident Immigrant could not travel outside of the state without approval from the Department of Public Safety.

Perhaps the most obvious reason to oppose the new law is its very language. The statement "equivalent to … a parent for a dependent child" suggests an attitude toward the foreign national reminiscent of less-inclusive eras in American history. Combine the language with the – arguably unconstitutional – restriction on travel, and the foreign national seems to become something akin to the property of the sponsor, rather than a person deserving of respect and human dignity.

As with the Guest Worker program, this permit is also in violation of federal immigration law and would require a waiver from the federal government before it could be implemented. Thus far, the federal government has shown little interest in allowing each state to create its own path to state specific legal status. And nowhere in this or the Guest Worker Permit statute has the Legislature defined the rights of permit holders who, even with federal approval, would not be recognized as full U.S. citizens.

Meanwhile, the same profiteers who are already preying on undocumented immigrants under the Guest Worker Permit act will also offer to help immigrants obtain a Resident Immigrant Permit, for a hefty fee. Those immigrants may be unaware that the permits do not exist and that they are not eligible for a permit if they are living in the state at the time they apply.

Which raises the final problem with the legislation — it does nothing to alleviate the burdens of undocumented immigrants already living and working in Utah. While new paths to citizenship for people who want to come to America need to be considered in immigration reform, those paths need to be created at the federal level and in a comprehensive strategy. Such a strategy must include constitutional paths to full citizenship for current undocumented workers, expanded opportunities for future immigrants, and equal protections for all, regardless of their path to citizenship. The federal government has full authority to accomplish all of these goals, and must do so to alleviate the burdens on both states and undocumented residents currently living and working across the country.