SALT LAKE
CITY
NBC News)
July 14,
2010
— Advocates
of tougher
immigration
enforcement
joined civil
rights
activists in
condemning
circulation
this week of
a list of
alleged
illegal
immigrants
to Utah
state
agencies and
news
organizations,
saying it
sent the
wrong
message to
violate
privacy laws
in seeking
to enforce
immigration
laws.
The 30-page
document
included
addresses,
phone
numbers and
birthdates
for about
1,300 people
it said were
in the
country
illegally.
Some of the
names — all
of Hispanic
origin —
also were
accompanied
by Social
Security
numbers and
medical
information,
such as
“baby due
4/4/10.”
A cover
letter
demanded the
people on
the list be
“deported
immediately”
with a call
to “DO YOUR
JOB AND STOP
MAKING
EXCUSES! WE
DEMAND
ACTION.” It
identified
the senders
as Concerned
Citizens of
the United
States, a
previously
unknown
group.
The cover
letter said
the list had
been sent to
U.S.
Immigration
and Customs
Enforcement
on April 4.
ICE
confirmed
Tuesday it
received the
list but
said “as a
matter of
policy” it
could not
confirm or
deny whether
it was
taking any
action.
Immigration
and civil
rights
experts said
Wednesday it
was not
immediately
possible to
verify
whether the
information
in the list
was
accurate,
but they
said it
appeared to
have been
derived from
state
records.
“That kind
of
information
is collected
by
government,
for
government
purposes,
and it’s
supposed to
be protected
by
government,”
said Brian
Barnard,
managing
attorney of
the
nonprofit
Utah Civil
Rights &
Liberties
Foundation.
“If it was
illegally
accessed to
create that
list, that’s
a crime, and
it’s
something
that
government
should be
concerned
about.”
Gov. Gary
Herbert
ordered an
investigation
to determine
whether
state
resources
were
illegally
used to
generate the
list.
Bernard’s
concern was
shared by
Rep. Steven
Sandstrom,
R-Orem, who
is drafting
a Utah
version of
the
controversial
law in
Arizona that
cracks down
on illegal
immigration.
“I think
it’s a wrong
approach,”
Sandstrom
said. “It
sends the
wrong
message, and
it doesn’t
follow the
rule of law
with the
bill that
I’m
writing.”
Ronald W.
Mortensen, a
vocal
proponent of
cracking
down on
illegal
immigrants,
agreed,
saying
circulation
of the list
“wasn’t an
appropriate
action.”
“It’s never
right to
release
documents,”
said
Mortensen, a
co-founder
of the Utah
Coalition on
Illegal
Immigration,
which denied
having had
anything to
do with the
list.
Circulation
of the list
created
alarm among
immigrant
communities
in Utah.
Tony Yapias,
director of
the
nonprofit
group
Proyecto
Hispanic de
Utah, said
he had taken
calls from
many
frightened
people
stating, "
‘I’m
angry,
because I’m
legal here."
Yapias,
former
director the
Utah Office
of Hispanic
Affairs,
said he told
a caller:
“Look, I
have your
name, your
address — I
have all
your
information.”
One woman,
who is not
being
identified
by name to
protect her,
told NBC
station
KSL-TV of
Salt Lake
City she was
on the list
inaccurately.
“I have my
papers!” the
woman said,
saying she
had had her
green card
for more
than a
decade and
was
scheduled to
become a
U.S. citizen
next month.
“I’m angry,
because I’m
legal here,”
she said.
“I’m going
to be a
citizen in
August — I
have the
ceremony in
August.”
Marina
Baginsky
Lowe, a
lawyer with
the American
Civil
Liberties
Union of
Utah, called
the list
“distressing,”
describing
it as
“vigilante
action.”
“Are we now
going to be
living in a
place where
we have to
worry about
our
neighbors
spying on
us, taking
down our
private
information
and
delivering
it to law
enforcement
under the
guise of
taking the
law into
their own
hands?” she
asked.
Suspicion
initially
surfaced the
Utah
Minuteman
Project, a
group that
says it
works “to
secure our
home land
from those
who
illegally
cross our
borders,”
was behind
the list.
But Eli
Cawley, the
group’s
co-chairman,
told KSL his
group was
not
involved. He
said he
supported
the list,
but only as
long as the
information
was accurate
and was
obtained
legally.
