A banner immigration bill that lawmakers say will help Utah coordinate with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and support President Donald Trump’s mission of mass deportation has passed the Legislature and now awaits approval or veto by Gov. Spencer Cox.
The bill, HB226, is sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Riverton, and in its original form aimed to enhance the maximum penalty for all class A misdemeanors from 364 days to 365 in an effort to assist ICE and Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.
“It’s become very clear in these work group meetings, in discussions with ICE, their policy is that to deport someone on a class A misdemeanor, they need to have served 365 days,” Pierucci said in a House hearing last month. “We are limiting that partnership with them with just having a 364, so it’s just extending it another 24 hours.”
In the weeks since Pierucci first introduced her bill, the crimes to which the enhancement would apply have been narrowed repeatedly — first in the version passed by the House, which limited the applicable offenses to violent class A misdemeanors and DUIs. The amendment was pushed for by House Democrats, some of whom joined with the majority to vote in favor of the bill, which passed 62-9.
The version of the bill passed by the Senate by a vote of 21-8 further narrowed the included crimes and no longer applies to DUIs.
Two Republicans, Sens. Daniel Thatcher and Todd Weiler, joined with Democrats to vote against the measure, and Thatcher expressed his frustration with the bill on the floor, pointing in particular to provisions that would punish lawful permanent residents.
“This might be the worst bill I’ve seen all year,” Thatcher said on the floor.
The final round of changes came after a failed vote to recommend the bill by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee, where several members of the committee raised concerns about the inclusion of federal code in the bill language and the way the legislation could apply to some lawful permanent residents.
The latest substitute removes the federal code, as well as provisions that would have penalized nonprofit organizations that “knowingly” transport undocumented immigrants, but the legislation would still in some instances apply to legal permanent residents.
The bill, should it become law with Cox’s signature, would undo parts of a piece of legislation passed by Utah lawmakers only five years ago that limited the sentence for a class A misdemeanor to under a year specifically to avoid triggering the federal deportation code.
“If you’re one of those individuals that got a class A [misdemeanor] and are nonviolent, just because of that one definition in the federal law, you’re swept up in a very big net,” former Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns said in 2019. “Too often, we just scoop up everything. We know for a fact we can do a better job.”
Despite the changes in recent weeks, the bill has attracted continued opposition.
“HB226 subjects immigrants and refugees — including green card holders and longtime lawful residents — to deportation proceedings for minor offenses with little chance for relief,” ACLU of Utah’s legislative & policy counsel Ellie Menlove said in a statement. “The Legislature’s intent is clear: this isn’t about public safety — it’s about creating a deportation pipeline that strips judges of discretion and tears families apart.”
