In 2019, Utah leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Utah Compact on Immigration. The agreement, originally drawn up in 2010, advocates for a bipartisan, common-sense approach to immigration.
The compact has five pillars: a free society, federal solutions, families, economy and law enforcement. Now in 2025, Utah lawmakers are considering a suite of legislation that would affect immigration largely through that last pillar: law enforcement.
Things have changed since the compact was last reaffirmed in 2019, said Republican Rep. Val Peterson. The first is the state of immigration itself.
“I think that illegal immigration obviously is a big discussion item right now,” he said. “Securing our borders is a big discussion.”
Peterson also pointed to Utah’s criminal justice reform efforts.
“Six years ago we were also doing [the Justice Reinvestment Initiative], which in many cases we rolled some things back too far,” he said. “So in some cases, we are moving things back to where they were previously.”
Cracking down on illegal immigration and crime are among the top stated priorities for the Trump administration, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has vowed the state will support those efforts.
The Utah Compact’s language states a respect for the rule of law and emphasizes that “local law enforcement resources should focus on criminal activities,” as opposed to civil infractions. Republicans like Rep. Candice Pierucci have said current legislation continues to hew closely to that intent, focusing on those who commit crimes, like increasing sentencing penalties for some misdemeanors.
“We are very careful to focus on criminals. People are committing crimes actively and trying not to mix in, you know, phrases like asylum seekers or people who have come here in different statuses,” Pierucci said during a January news conference that previewed the bills they intended to pursue.
When the compact was first released, editorials in national papers like The New York Times and The Washington Post praised it for its measured approach. Even then, one lawyer said not every immigrant benefited in the same way.
“[The compact] made Utah a much more receptive place for things like folks fleeing from Ukraine,” said Salt Lake-based immigration attorney Nicholle Pitt White, a partner at Utah firm Contigo.Law. “The vast majority of my clients, though, have been coming from Central and South America, and recently from the Sudan, as well, and I don't see that same level of understanding and support for those people.”
Pitt White worries about lumping crime and immigrants together and calls the current slate of bills vastly disappointing.
“I feel like in the past we had a great camaraderie, so to speak, with the Legislature. They were willing to work with us on certain things. We helped work with them.”
Utah still has the opportunity to be a leader on immigration policy at a federal level, she said, especially with its all-Republican congressional delegation.
“Utah historically has been a pretty immigrant-friendly community. We've accepted higher numbers of refugees than a lot of other areas. So I think if we took that support, not just here at home, but took it to the federal level, we would actually be in a great position to lobby for those changes to be made.”
This story is based on reporting from the latest episode of State Street, “Welcome to Utah! *restrictions may apply.” Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
