Leaders to gather in Salt Lake City for immigration summit

October 25, 2011

A group of religious and political leaders from across the country are to gather in Salt Lake City this week for the inaugural Mountain West Immigration Summit. The gathering is being hosted by Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff. It is aimed at examining the issue of legal and illegal immigration in the state, and how national programs and policies affect and are implemented on the local level.
"This will be a groundbreaking meeting where regional leaders will come together for a rational discussion on immigration," Shurtleff told media this week. "This is a chance for local leaders to forge a new consensus on a national immigration strategy."

One of the groups attending the meeting will be the National Immigration Forum, the not-for-profit organization that has vocally opposed the divisive, enforcement-only immigration laws that have been brought in in Arizona and Alabama.

A major subject of discussion will be Utah's own enforcement-only law, HB497, which is currently being contested by a lawsuit brought by the National Immigration Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The organizers of the summit have said they hope to explore in depth the relationship between immigration policy and the economy, faith and security.