- Rep. Mike Kennedy said there is not "political will" among his colleagues to pursue immigration reform.
- Rep. Blake Moore said there could be a Trump-led path to legalization for immigrants in his 2nd term.
- Utah elected officials cited areas where the surge of illegal immigration negatively impacted communities.
Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy said on Monday Congress is unlikely to pursue legal pathways for unauthorized immigrants as Republicans focus on enforcing the country’s laws after four years of historic levels of illegal immigration.
President Donald Trump’s ramped up deportation regime is not in conflict with the country’s immigrant roots, according to Kennedy — a first generation American — though it will inevitably sweep up those without a criminal record.
“Sometimes dramatic actions result in some consequences that aren’t ideal,” Kennedy said. “These are the side effects when we’ve got people that have been hiding in the shadows for decades.”
Kennedy, who represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, spoke at Weber State University’s Davis Campus during an immigration forum hosted by Path Forward, a conservative nonprofit that aims to educate “diverse communities” about political advocacy.
The panelists, which included 1st District Rep. Blake Moore, former Border Patrol Chief Chris Clem and several state lawmakers, affirmed their desire for the United States to eventually expand legal immigration options.
But most said reforms will come only after the federal government attempts to reverse the effects of lax enforcement under President Joe Biden that flooded the nation with immigrants who entered the country illegally at unprecedented levels.
How much immigration under Biden?
The surge in immigration from 2021 to 2024 was the largest in U.S. history. An average of 2.4 million people entered the country every year from 2021 to 2023, and an estimated 2.8 million entered in 2024, for a total of around 10 million people, according to Census Bureau data.
Local officials like Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Roosevelt Mayor JR Bird, outlined how the immigration wave pushed some Utah schools to the breaking point, strained the housing supply and stretched public resources like hospital wait times.
Several Utah schools have seen the number of students who don’t speak English multiply. Around 50% of the state’s recent population growth which outpaces housing supply has been driven by international immigration. And around 1.4 million immigrants receive state-subsidized health care nationwide.
According to many of Kennedy’s congressional colleagues, the proper response to this pressure on U.S. communities includes removing those who entered the country illegally under the previous administration to their “country of origin,” he said.
“If you’re not going to come legally, then the enforcement prosecution efforts of the law of the United States of America will be dropped on your head,” Kennedy said. “If you’ve lived here for all those years and never done anything to formalize your status you may find yourself being deported.”
Since January, the number of monthly arrests conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Salt Lake City area of responsibility has tripled, with arrests of those with no pending criminal charges or convictions increasing ninefold to more than one-fifth of all arrests.
While studies indicate that immigrants are less likely to commit additional crimes after settling in the U.S., Kennedy said this approach is necessary because federal agencies under Biden did not properly vet those who entered the country.
Will there be immigration reform?
Kennedy, a former state legislator who entered Congress in January, said he personally supports proposals that would allow unauthorized immigrants to remain in the country if they pay extra taxes and forgo future opportunities for citizenship.
“It’s not a lack of ideas, it’s a lack of political will,” Kennedy said. “Republicans and Democrats both win elections and campaign and fundraise off of this broken immigration process.”
But Kennedy said he hasn’t given up hope that the news around deportations might create a “political groundswell” that finally pushes Congress to “fix legal immigration” in addition to stopping and undoing years of illegal immigration.
In an interview with the Deseret News, Moore, the House GOP Conference Vice Chair, agreed with Kennedy that immigration reform is not on the horizon. But he said that could change as the Trump administration achieves its border security goals.
In July, monthly Border Patrol apprehensions hit a record low of 4,598 across the entire 2,000-mile southwest border — around 500 fewer than the average number per day under Biden, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
This comes as detention and deportation programs received more than $100 billion from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which appropriated $46.5 billion for border security, $45 billion for detention centers, $30 billion for training ICE officers and $3 billion for hiring immigration judges.
The Trump White House has doubled down on “no amnesty” after some Cabinet officials suggested deportation carveouts for agriculture, triggering conservative backlash. But the president has suggested there should be exceptions for the industries hardest hit.
“I believe there could absolutely be a Trump-led initiative to do this,” Moore said. “I believe there’s motivation within the administration to accomplish this. I don’t think it’s tomorrow, but I do think it’s within his term for the next four years.”
Utah immigration bills return
Monday’s immigration roundtable briefly addressed concerns from Utah farmers, business owners and faith leaders that Trump’s deportation push was exacerbating workforce problems and creating a climate of fear among some Utah residents.
But the topic of discussion among the roughly 60 state lawmakers, law enforcement officials and activists at the forum centered on public safety. Three high-profile bills that failed during the 2025 legislative session were brought up as priorities for next year.
Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Syracuse, said she would reintroduce a bill requiring the Lieutenant Governor’s Office to ensure individuals on the voter rolls are U.S. citizens. Lisonbee said she has verified at least three instances of county clerks registering an unauthorized immigrant to vote without proof of citizenship.
Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City, said he is confident his bill enhancing criminal penalties for unlicensed drivers will pass next year. Around half of serious car crashes in West Valley City last year involved an unlicensed driver and there were eight highway fatalities statewide that involved unlicensed drivers.
Attendees lamented the failure of another bill introduced last year by Rep. Neil Walter, R-St. George, that would decrease the threshold at which businesses are required to use E-Verify to check employees’ legal status from 150 employees to 15. Walter said he does not plan to reintroduce the bill because the same political obstacles remain.