This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The majority of Utahns who attended a forum on immigration reform Wednesday night called for a closure of U.S. borders. They argued illegal immigrants steal jobs from U.S. citizens, drive up the health-care costs and burden public schools.
Nearly all of about 60 attendees at the Freedom Forum held at the Salt Lake City Main Library voiced their dissatisfaction with how the local and federal governments are handling immigration reform issues.
“Our problem is not with those who have come here legally, it's with our government who left the [border] doors open,” said Utah resident Wally McCormick.
Host, Mayor Rocky Anderson, and his administrator for minority and community affairs, Mark Alvarez, were booed and heckled several times during the two hour forum by audience members upset over their support of a pro-immigration march and rally last week that involved about 20,000 people.
Alvarez called for “smart borders,” and argued that reform measures must match economic realities. He said a new federal reform policy should deal fairly with the 12 million undocumented immigrants who already work in the U.S. but live “in the shadows.”
Most of the crowd stood and cheered, however, when Barry Hatch, who is affiliated with the Minuteman Project, which favors combatting illegal immigration, spoke. He was part of a five-member panel that included Alvarez, Republican Utah Sen. Curtis Bramble, University of Utah economics professor Thomas Maloney and Sylvia Haro, senior vice-president of Community Outreach and Multicultural Retail Region, Zions Bank.
Hatch said illegal immigrants do not represent America, and demanded that those that were in the U.S. go back to their own countries and apply through the proper channels for citizenship.
“The country and the law come first,” Hatch said.
Bramble said the federal government's policy on immigration is in disarray, and called for tighter security at the border.
In his opening remarks, Anderson said he believed the criteria needed to address immigration reform should include security, economic prosperity and compassion.