KEY POINTS
  • Gov. Cox said he supports President Trump's designation of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
  • Cox questioned Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship because "that's in the Constitution."
  • Cox reaffirmed support for the Utah Compact which opposed policies that unnecessarily separate families.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he supports the Trump administration’s early action to secure the U.S. border and expressed hope that the country can arrive at a balanced immigration policy.

The United States has “always been a country of immigrants,” Cox told the Deseret News in an interview on Tuesday. “But we have to control who and when and why people get to come here. And that hasn’t been happening.”

In the 24 hours since President Donald Trump was sworn in, he reinstated the “Remain in Mexico” program for asylum-seekers, attempted to end birthright citizenship for children of migrants who are in the U.S. illegally, and designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Cox said his attorney is currently reviewing these executive orders to determine how they impact the state.

Cox reacts to Trump orders on immigration

Cox approved of the terrorist designation for cartels, which would allow the federal government to mobilize additional financial, prosecutorial and military action against them.

“That should have happened a long time ago because that’s exactly what they are,” Cox said.

Trump previously proposed labeling Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in November 2019 after members of La Linea, a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization, massacred three mothers and six children traveling near La Mora, a decades-old settlement in the state of Sonora founded by early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At the time, Trump said all the statutory steps had been taken to declare Mexican cartels a terrorist threat but he did not move forward with the terrorist designation after the idea was met with resistance from the Mexican president.

Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship is less cut and dried, according to Cox.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution enshrines the citizenship of “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

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“I don’t think that President Biden can just magically change the Constitution, and President Trump can’t either,” Cox said. “And so if there needs to be a constitutional amendment, that’s a discussion that Americans should have.”

On Tuesday, attorneys general from 22 states sued Trump in two different federal district courts to block his executive order ending birthright citizenship.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during a one-on-one interview with a Deseret News reporter in the gold room of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on the first day of the legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Where will the pendulum swing?

The mood among Americans, including Democrats, has shifted toward a desire for more order at the southern border, Cox said. But, he added, an increase in criminal deportations should be paired with the principles that have long attracted talented people to the United States and Utah.

“The pendulum is going to swing. I hope it swings to the right place, and not too far, and that we still become the home where people can come,” Cox said.

In 2010, Utah distinguished itself from neighboring states with the Utah Compact on Immigration, a statement signed by hundreds of Utah leaders that attempted to balance the rule of law, a recognition of federal authority on immigration, an opposition to policies that separate families and an aspiration to integrate migrants into the economy.

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“We care deeply about families, and that’s important to Utahns and families of every stripe, and that’s why the Utah Compact was so influential and why I continue to support it,” said Cox.

During his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump promised to return “millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”

While Trump campaigned on deporting all 10-20 million migrants who are in the country illegally, the president and border czar Tom Homan have recently said deportation efforts will focus on those who have committed crimes after entering the country illegally.

This is a focus that Cox, and some members of the Utah Legislature, share.

“We’ve got to get rid of the criminal element,” Cox said. “The ability of us to deport 10, 20 million people, it’s just not a practical thing.”

Immigration in the 2025 legislative session

Earlier this month, key Republican policymakers announced a public safety package targeting migrants who are in the country illegally and increasing penalties for migrant-related crime.

The proposals include at least two direct reversals of laws passed in the last decade that relaxed immigration law enforcement measures for undocumented employees and those who commit class A misdemeanors.

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The Legislature will also consider increasing funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention space, and enhancing penalties for fentanyl trafficking, gang crimes, felonies committed after unlawful reentry and driving without a license.

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Cox called these bills “common sense,” and said he considers all of them a priority for the state.

When asked about a bill this session that would amend a 2022 law to reduce the requirements for businesses to use E-Verify from 150 to 5, and a bill that would repeal a 2019 law that attempted to avoid automatic deportations by reducing the sentencing for class A misdemeanors by one day, Cox said this was an example of the Legislature correcting what turned out to be an error.

“The whole purpose of what we do up here is to figure out what works and what doesn’t work, and when something isn’t working the way it was intended to then, then we should fix that,” Cox said.

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