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Opinion: The conversation: Three views on immigration policy

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Immigration enforcement plan Secure Communities should be shelved or retooled

The Obama administration is right to enforce immigration laws, and smart to focus on those who pose the greatest danger to communities. With an estimated 11 million people illegally living and working in the United States, immigration officials can’t deport everyone, and would waste precious resources in the effort to do so. But Secure Communities isn’t succeeding at targeting violent criminals. Instead, it is increasingly diverting police from public safety for other purposes. The White House should heed the recommendations of police chiefs who are calling on federal immigration officials to stop trying to turn police into immigration agents. -- Los Angeles Times editorial

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Obama should consider Utah’s common-sense, market-based answer to the immigration question

As Reagan himself pointed out: ‘Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien invasion, or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won’t do? One thing is certain in this hungry world: No regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters.’ In other words, if businesses can’t find U.S. workers for certain jobs, government should not stop them from hiring the foreign workers they need. […] The Utah immigrant work permit program should serve as a model for Republicans in other states, and even in Congress, about how to address the immigration crisis within a conservative framework of limited government and the free market. The ‘Utah solution’ demonstrates that there are Republicans who want to work on the issue constructively -- and are willing to pass laws welcoming to immigrants. -- Alfonso Aguilar, Politico

More support for the ‘Utah Way’

[T]he ‘Utah Way,’ as some are calling it, is also a fraternal attack on Republicans, in Washington and elsewhere, whose only strategy is to demonize, criminalize and deport 11 million illegal immigrants. […] Utah’s guest-worker bill doesn’t grant citizenship, of course, but in every other way it’s exactly what national Republicans have derided as ‘amnesty.’ It would grant work permits to undocumented immigrants, and their immediate families, who pay a fine, clear a criminal background check and study English. The bill’s chief sponsor, state Rep. Bill Wright, is a plain-spoken dairy farmer who describes his politics as ‘extremely’ conservative, likes Sarah Palin and believes he may have once voted for a Democrat - possibly 40 years ago for sheriff. He admires the work ethic of the Hispanic farmhands he’s employed over the years and doesn’t care much for anything the government does, least of all the idea that it might deport millions of immigrant workers and their families. -- Lee Hockstader, The Washington Post

Stop illegal immigration: America’s not a ‘free-for-all’

[Ron Paul] is tough on illegal immigration. He wrote on his Web site that ‘decades of misguided policies’ have left America ‘a free-for-all.’ He has a six-point plan to stop illegal immigration: 1-Physically secure the borders and coastline 2-Enforce visa rules 3-No Amnesty 4-No welfare for illegal aliens 5-End birthright citizenship 6-Pass true immigration reform -- Mark Berman, Opposing Views

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