Vaccination initiatives, food subsidies for pregnant mothers, children’s health coverage and other programs would be off-limits to undocumented immigrants in Utah under a bill proposed for the upcoming legislative session by Republican Rep. Trevor Lee.
“We give benefits to those who are not citizens of our country, and I believe that’s wrong,” Lee said in an interview. “I think we have enough problems. We have Utahns who need help, who are struggling, who can barely afford their bills, and we shouldn’t be allocating taxpayer funding of any sort, at least on the state side, to those who are noncitizens.”
The Layton lawmaker said his HB88 is modeled after a similar measure that Idaho passed last year but is currently enjoined by a federal court.
It would require those applying for any state-run benefit to prove they are in the country legally. Citizenship is not currently a requirement for a narrow subset of state programs.
If it becomes law, Lee acknowledged, it would likely impact the supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as WIC, which helps breastfeeding and pregnant mothers; meal delivery programs for seniors; vaccination efforts; housing assistance; homeless services; communicable disease treatment; and potentially other offerings.
He also plans to add a provision — not currently in the bill — that would rescind coverage under the state Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, that was extended two years ago to the children of people lacking permanent legal immigration status.
“They need to go back to their home country and that’s the whole point of this,” Lee said. “If it’s homelessness, if it’s housing, if it’s any type of health care that we control, we want to make sure that we can stop the money going to those entities.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, in March 2025. He plans to push a number of immigration-related bills.
The measure would not restrict emergency services or benefits to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, who are legal citizens.
Nor could the state restrict programs in which the federal government provides funding and requires they extend to everyone. States could limit some federal programs, like WIC, in which they have more control over beneficiaries.
“I’ll let the Trump admin[istration] deal with that,” Lee said. “They’re on top of that stuff as it is, and then take it from there.”
House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, who represents a west-side district that is half Latino, said Lee’s bill is “hurtful and misguided.”
“It infuriates me that someone is trying to target some of our most vulnerable community members,” Romero said, “and I think this is more of a political message and a political stunt. It’s disappointing.”
She acknowledged the immigration system is flawed but said taking food and health care from vulnerable children doesn’t solve the problem.
“It’s so mean-spirited,” Romero said, “that you’re going to pick on children to push this political rhetoric.”
Gina Cornia, executive director of Utahns Against Hunger, said the law would also impact soup kitchens and food pantries that would have to verify the citizenship of everyone who walks through the door.
“How is some small little pantry going to verify everyone’s immigration status?” she asked. “You can’t just do people who look like immigrants. You have to do [it for] everyone. … The administrative layer this adds is so outrageous.
“Where does he think people are going to go for food? They’re here now,” Cornia said. “It really is about cruelty. There’s got to be a better way to do this, and withholding food from people is not the way to fix immigration.”
Lee said he doesn’t know how much it would cost for state providers to verify citizenship for those programs in which it is not currently required, adding that there could be net savings from not providing those benefits to undocumented residents.
“We’re fully opposed to it,” said Maurice Hickey, executive director of the advocacy group Voices for Utah Children.
“Obviously things like communicable diseases and vaccinations, we’re fully supportive of treatment [for those],” he said. “We already have a challenge going with measles in the state of Utah and having children from mixed immigrant families not getting vaccinated is only going to complicate that challenge.”
The Utah Department of Health reports there have been 156 measles cases statewide so far. In 2008, the Legislature excluded undocumented immigrants from receiving most state benefits but made exceptions for vaccines and communicable disease treatment.
Hickey warned that Lee’s bill would have a ripple effect, scaring away people who are eligible for federal benefits or other programs not covered under the legislation.
The bill seeking to cut off public benefits is one of several immigration measures Lee said he is sponsoring, all of them aimed at discouraging undocumented immigrants from coming to the state and encouraging those who are already in Utah to go home.
“It stops the flow of making Utah a destination where they want to come,” Lee said. “We shouldn’t be incentivizing people to break the law, period. I know it came from a place of compassion over a decade ago. … I’m trying to reel it back. And I think there’s a great sentiment amongst Utahns to say, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of problems with this.’”
His other legislation would repeal Utah’s driving privilege card, which allows undocumented residents to drive legally and get auto insurance. The driving privilege card passed the Legislature in 2005. The state issues about 35,000 of them — including renewals — on average each year.
A third bill, Lee said, is modeled after a Tennessee law that makes it a crime to rent to undocumented tenants or for anyone who is not a citizen to buy a house. It is being challenged in court.
Lee added that he plans a fourth immigration bill that he said he is not ready to discuss. He expects other bills this session that will “start reeling back” assistance to refugees and asylum seekers who are in the country legally.
“We want to make sure that we’re not putting someone else over Americans,” he said. “I know people who’ve struggled with their businesses, and they’re not getting loans or help or aid from the government. The priority of help needs to be going to Utahns or Americans first.”