Earlier this month, Gov. Spencer Cox stated that he “remained committed” to the Utah Compact on Immigration, a document first released in 2010 and reaffirmed by state leaders in 2019. Cox said, “The principles of the Compact, I think, are still very important.” That is good news for Utah. The bad news is Cox’s support for President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation.
Cox was not elected to the Utah House of Representatives until 2012, two legislative sessions after the Utah Compact was released followed by unprecedented support by former Gov. Gary Herbert and the conservative state Legislature for comprehensive state-based immigration reform. And despite his welcome support recently for the Utah Compact, I cannot seem to locate a moment when Cox actually signed the document — though I will happily stand corrected if wrong.
My point is that supporting the principles in the Utah Compact while supporting Trump’s mass deportation plans feels a bit like double-dealing.
I am a co-author of the Utah Compact. While I ran Sutherland Institute, we played an instrumental role in changing public opinion on immigration — from 70% of Utahns favoring Trump-like enforcement-only policies early in 2010 to 70% favoring the Compact and the comprehensive reforms passed by the state Legislature in 2011. I was present from beginning to end of those historic and precedent-setting policy reforms.
In other words, I know whereof I speak when I say that the Utah Compact stands in stark contrast to Trump’s rants on mass deportation policies. The policies underlying the 2011 immigration reforms strove to bring otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants to the surface of society, leaving the residue of criminal immigrants for law enforcement to clean up. Utah warmly embraced existing undocumented immigrants already living among us peaceably and productively.
In contrast, Trump’s policies underlying mass deportations — insomuch as anyone knows what that means today — portray undocumented immigrants as criminals. And while the label is legally true — a person crossing our border for the first time, for any peaceful and productive reason, commits a misdemeanor — no decent Utahn would treat that person as a hardened criminal. In fact, the offense was simply an “infraction,” like a speeding ticket, when the Utah Compact was created.
I am quite sure that Gov. Cox does not really have in mind deporting every undocumented resident of Utah. The governor is a decent and prudent man, not inhumane or impractical. And yet, what does he mean by supporting Trump’s policies?
Cox announced a five-prong strategy for the state to work with federal immigration officials focusing on “criminal behavior.” Nothing about those five policies gives me concern. What does give me concern is probable overreach by the Trump administration when it deems “criminal behavior” to include otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants. My concern is when malum prohibitum is equated with malum in se — when an infraction or misdemeanor is equated with murder, rape and other felonies.
Prior to the historic immigration reforms in 2011, Sutherland Institute published an essay, “Onus or Opportunity: Immigration and Conservatism,” in which we made an authentic conservative argument for those comprehensive reforms.
A serious consideration for us at the time was to ensure that the growing tide of opinion favoring enforcement-only immigration policies did not produce a new police-state mentality. Authentic conservatives certainly believe in law and order but we don’t believe in police states. The Trump-Cox policies proposed are one slight interpretation away from a police state. If “criminal behavior” includes mere undocumented immigrants, authentic conservatives have reason for concern.
The principles of the Utah Compact are the most prudent model to maintain justice and humanity. I know Gov. Cox understands this in his heart.