Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox outlined on Tuesday how the state will support President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration in deporting undocumented immigrants who’ve committed crimes or, the governor’s office says, are a threat to Utahns’ safety.
“When it comes to immigration policy, the safety of Utah residents is my top priority,” said Cox in a news release Tuesday morning. “Utah will continue to welcome refugees and immigrants who enter the country lawfully, and we will continue pushing for reforms to the asylum process and for more visas to support our workforce needs.”
Utah will also have a “zero tolerance” policy “for those who demonstrate a threat to public safety while in the country illegally,” Cox continued. “Federal immigration authorities have failed in their duty to the American people and they’ve left states and localities to independently manage the fallout of those failures. We’re grateful to have an administration coming in who will take these problems seriously.”
Utah’s immigration and deportation efforts will be led by the Department of Public Safety — which includes agencies like the Utah Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigations — and the Department of Corrections.
“Criminal organizations like the Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartel need to be held accountable for drug and human trafficking, including facilitating the return of previously deported felons,” said Jess Anderson, the Utah commissioner of public safety, in a statement in the news release. “We anticipate that with increased border enforcement, we can take strong action on these aggravated reentries, where deported felons return to commit additional crimes.”
The governor said the efforts would be guided by a handful of priorities (the five following priorities have been shared exactly as the governor’s office published):
“Identify additional “intercept points” in the criminal justice system where those who have been arrested for a crime can be identified as illegal immigrants;
“Develop further training and guidance to support local and state authorities as they attempt to identify criminal illegal immigrants who should be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for deportation proceedings;
“Work with Utah’s newly created Fentanyl Taskforce on long-term solutions to criminals who have engaged in fentanyl distribution while illegally in the state;
“Work with the Utah legislature in the upcoming legislative session on a variety of policy enhancements associated with criminal behavior by illegal immigrants;
“Work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to identify illegal immigrants in Utah’s criminal justice system and reduce unreasonable federal regulations and detention standards that interfere with the ability to house criminal detainees.”
NEWS RELEASE_Immigration and Public Safety by Jeff Parrott on Scribd
During his campaign, Trump promised to conduct “mass deportations” of undocumented immigrants and has recently confirmed he plans to use the military to assist in those operations, The New York Times reported.
Cox announced in February that he would send five members of the Utah National Guard and five members of the Utah Highway Patrol to assist Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in responding to illegal immigration across the Mexico border.
When asked by The Salt Lake Tribune if the governor plans to use the Utah National Guard in these efforts, a spokesperson said, “This is an operation of the Utah Department of Public Safety and Department of Corrections, not the Utah National Guard.”
The spokesperson also said Cox’s “focus is on deporting those who have committed crimes and pose a threat to public safety.”
Utah House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee said in a statement posted to X that GOP lawmakers are “working on a package of bills to support our local communities and address the public safety impacts of the southern border crisis on Utah,” and said lawmakers appreciate Cox’s “partnership.”
“While details are still being worked through, we know for certain that we must act to address the strain on Utah’s communities, public safety resources and education system,” Lisonbee wrote. “The bill package will prevent future victims by working to stop human and drug trafficking and deter other criminal activity that endangers Utah residents.”
‘We must distinguish between those who commit crimes and those seeking better lives’
Democratic legislative leadership, in its own statement, said the plan “raises serious concerns about equating immigration with criminality and scapegoating undocumented communities.”
“While we all want to hold criminals accountable and ensure public safety, this approach risks creating fear and misrepresenting undocumented individuals, many of whom contribute significantly to Utah’s economy, culture, and workforce,” read a joint statement from Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla and House Minority Leader Angela Romero, who also chairs the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators. “In these conversations, we must distinguish between those who commit crimes and those seeking better lives for themselves and their families.”
Utah has previously been an outlier among red states in how it approaches immigration issues. Last reaffirmed five years ago, public officials and influential Utahns signed onto the Utah Compact on immigration — a declaration urging humane treatment of immigrants and focusing deportation on serious criminals.
Cox’s office said in the statement that “federal failures” when it comes to immigration enforcement are impacting Utah taxpayers, noting that 4.6% of Utah’s prison population consists of undocumented immigrants, costing the state nearly $16 million per year.
But Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, whose office put many of those people behind bars, said that there is often a good reason for the state to lock up criminal migrants rather than deport them.
“Of course anybody who commits a crime and is here illegally should be subject to both federal and state laws including deportation,” he said. “Some of the crimes we prosecute, whether they’re sex offenses or murder or violent offenses against our victims ... I want to send them to prison. The easiest thing for that person [would be] to be deported where they won’t be held accountable and our victim is left with that pain and loss and no measure of justice.”
Putting immigrants who commit crimes in prison does cost taxpayers money, he acknowledged. “Sometimes justice comes with a price tag. When there are violent offenders, an injustice would be deporting someone out to a country where they’re just going to run free and there’s no justice for the victim here.”
According to federal data collected by Syracuse University’s Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse, 995 immigrants were deported from Utah between December 2002 and February 2024. Most of them had not been convicted of a crime. The number of deportations dipped significantly since Biden — and Cox — took office, with 64 people deported since January 2021.
Amid his own reelection run this year, Cox faced pressure from the right to take more action when it comes to undocumented immigrants living in the state.
For years Cox has criticized Trump, and said he did not vote for him in the 2016 and 2020 elections, but this past summer he endorsed the twice-impeached former president for 2024.
The Utah governor later campaigned on a graveside visit with Trump to Arlington National Cemetery, which is prohibited by federal law, and Cox later said it was a mistake. Still, Utah voters supported Trump at a higher percentage than they did Cox in this year’s statewide election.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
