The state of Utah has agreed to scrap key provisions of its controversial immigration enforcement law passed in 2011. The state Attorney General and the American Civil Liberties Union announced the settlement yesterday. Both sides agreed to accept the stipulations of a judge’s split ruling on the law made in June. Under the ruling, police will not be allowed to stop or detain an individual just to verify immigration status. It also eliminates a provision of the law that would have made it a state crime to harbor a person in the country illegally. Karen McCreary, Executive Director of the ACLU of Utah says the settlement marks the end of an era.
"That era when we passed that law is hopefully over, in terms of the focus, I think, on criminalizing everyday activities, police officers here being able to detain or stop individuals. We could have under that law, certainly, had much more discriminatory actions going on in terms of the people that would have been stopped, and we've now put an end to that."
The law has been suspended throughout the legal challenges. Once U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups approves the agreement, the case will be closed.
