With a new president taking office in 2025, immigration is on Gov. Spencer Cox’s mind. He spent much of his last news conference of 2024 talking to reporters about his plans.
In November, he announced that his administration will work with the incoming Trump administration to deport immigrants who have entered the country illegally and committed crimes.
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to deport millions of people.
“This isn't just about the Latino community,” Cox. said on Dec. 19. “It is about law and order.”
Details on how that would work in practice are sparse.
In his Nov. 24 announcement, Cox outlined five priorities that the state would focus on. This includes bolstering ways to determine if people who are arrested are in the country illegally, state policy changes related to immigrants who commit crimes, as well as coordinating with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to better identify people who are here illegally and already in the justice system.
When pushed on whether he would go as far as activating the Utah National Guard to accomplish these goals as Trump has suggested, Cox said there has yet to be any official communication with the incoming administration on how deportations would be carried out.
“Trump has said a lot of things, and we'll wait until we have those discussions.”
Cox added that deportations on the scale that Trump has called for are likely not possible.
“I don't see any scenario under which 20 million people can be deported,” he said. “That's just not logistically possible right now.”
Cox also addressed concerns about what constitutes a deportable crime, since entering the country illegally is already a crime. He said tracking down those who are here illegally but have not committed other crimes is “not where our focus is.”
“We're going to start with criminals, people who are breaking the law and causing harm to Utahns and to Americans,” he said. “That's where we have to start. Let's get the worst element out of here.”
Reforming Elections and Courts
Another topic that garnered a lot of attention in Utah and across the country this year was election security.
A legislative audit released on Dec. 9 found there were no “significant” instances of fraud in Utah. Still, some legislative leaders used the fact that two deceased people appear to have cast votes in the 2023 election to question the validity of the state’s universal vote by mail system.
Cox said he would support examining ways to make the current system better, but a massive overhaul of how the state conducts elections is not likely in the cards for 2025.
“I would have to see what else is in [a future bill to eliminate vote by mail] and what they thought through,” he said. “But it's highly unlikely I would sign a bill that completely eliminates mail in voting.”
One area where he does see a need for change is how ballots are counted to ensure that counties have the ability to tabulate votes quickly on election night.
“I think that would help everyone have more faith in the election system,” he said.
“Because what inevitably happens is when you’ve got weeks [before election results are tallied], people start to doubt. Even though there are great answers for that, it makes it really easy for chaos agents to come in and make up conspiracy theories about why it's taking so long.”
Cox was also not in favor of massive overhauls to Utah’s judicial system, especially making judges elected rather than appointed. The judiciary came under fire from some lawmakers after high-profile rulings against the state legislature on issues like legislative redistricting and abortion.
“I will never support the election of judges,” he said. “I think the most corrupt systems on Earth involve the elections of judges, and I think that that would be a huge mistake.”
Housing
A major focus for Cox and the Legislature in recent years has been the state’s housing affordability crisis.
Cox hosted a housing workshop with the Western Governors Association on Dec. 18, and while he can’t divulge specifics right now, he expects legislation in 2025 aimed at housing — specifically how the state can encourage more construction of owner-occupied condominium units.
“We've had a problem in the west and in Utah, we don't build condominiums as much anymore,” he said. “There is an ownership, there is an entry level opportunity for people at the same price, basically, as renting a unit to start building equity and to be able to move up.”
Due to liability and insurance reasons, it is usually much more feasible for a developer to build apartments for rent instead of condos. Cox said lawmakers will be looking into some of those barriers and hopes they can find ways around some of those roadblocks.
“We know the demand is there, but what’s stopping the supply?” he said. “You'll see some more of that this legislative session.”
While Utah does not have term limits for governor, Cox also told reporters that his second term would be his last.
“When you stay too long, things don't go well. It's like a quarterback who should have retired and didn't. And I don't want to be that person.”