Salt Lake County Republicans, defying an appeal from Gov. Gary Herbert, adopted a resolution Saturday urging the state to overturn its new guest-worker law.
Herbert, speaking before hundreds of fellow Republicans at the county GOP convention in Sandy, argued that his administration refuses to “kick the can down the road” when it comes to the federal government’s failure to deal with illegal immigration.
“Doing nothing is not an option,” he said. “Doing something is the right thing to do.”
HB116 allows tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants to receive work permits, provided they pass background checks and pay fines.
Despite the governor’s appeal, Republican delegates passed a resolution urging state officials to toss out the law as soon as possible.
Cheers erupted.
“We need to stop letting the interests of other nation states trump the interests of the citizens of our country,” argued delegate Matthew Bell, who presented the resolution.
But Saturday’s outcome was hardly unanimous. The margin was so close that party officials had to conduct a physical count. The final tally: 256-196.