Immigration Clearinghouse

"We will begin an immediate, aggressive, formal investigation" - Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff

SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert said Friday that at least two employees of the Utah Department of Workforce Services took information from its databases to help compile a list of 1,300 supposedly illegal immigrants. Up to five others are also under continuing investigation.

Herbert and the head of DWS, Kristen Cox, appeared at a Friday morning press conference to address the issue.

Cox said two employees involved were escorted out of the office and placed on administrative leave. She declined to disclose whether they continue to receive their pay and benefits.

“The people we have identified certainly have some very strong political opinions and are frustrated,” Cox said, about the issue of illegal immigration. “If they want to go rogue, they need to quit the department.”

Cox said there was no breach of the database, but rather a compilation of information.

Later, DWS spokesman Dave Lewis added, “There are additional people we are looking at. There could be two, there could be five. It’s a small group. They are all DWS employees.”

Lewis said the additional people have not yet been put on administrative leave. He said they may or may not face action “depending on what we find” in the continuing investigation.

Herbert said there are only two areas where people can access information about undocumented people: those who are receiving prenatal care through Medicaid, and those whose children are U.S. citizens and qualify for food stamps, health care and other assistance.

More individuals are believed to be involved, he said, and the investigation continues. Both he and Cox said they were not aware of a conspiracy to gather and distribute the information.

The governor said federal law prevents the state from turning over the list to U.S. immigration authorities. “That’s the federal law, and we have to honor it,” he said.

Herbert was scheduled to head to Colorado today for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Aspen, but he said his flight was canceled. He made a point of directly condemning the list at the news conference, something his Democratic opponent in November’s special gubernatorial election had criticized him for not doing. But the governor declined to comment on the political implications of his comments.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said during a separate event Friday that once information from the governor’s investigation is turned over to his office by Monday, “We will begin an immediate, aggressive, formal investigation.

“We’ll do that jointly with the U.S. attorney’s office, because from what we’re hearing, mostly likely federal and state privacy laws may have been violated. We’re talking serious crimes that could rise to a felony,” he said.

Shurtleff said because the list included the due dates of several pregnant women, that may have violated federal health privacy laws — and could be a felony, not just a misdemeanor, as some violations of state databases could be.

Shurtleff added that his investigation will not necessarily be limited just to state employees. “If others were involved in potential violations of law beyond state employees, certainly we’re going to be looking at that as well.”

However, Shurtleff said his office does not plan to do anything with the supposed “illegal immigrants” on the list. He said he will seek, as part of immigration reform, the power to go after companies that continually report Social Security numbers for employees after the state has warned them the numbers are bogus or belong to someone else.

Shurtleff also told a conference call to national reporters, “As the attorney general of Utah, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the generation and dissemination of this list. … I want to make it very clear that is not the way we do things in Utah.”

He said as people debate immigration reform, “We need to do it in a way that is not through lists, that is through hate mongering, through political rhetoric, through threats, through outright and implied racism. That’s not how we do things, and we condemn it.”

Shurtleff said he hopes all sides will condemn the list and “put the hatred, the accusations aside and work toward comprehensive, workable reform.”

Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen said in a statement Friday that the party supported Herbert’s request for an investigation into the origination and release of the list.

“The unlawful release of private information to the public is unconscionable under any circumstances and is not to be tolerated,” Hansen said in the statement. “Immigration is an emotional and much-debated issue, not only here in Utah, but nationwide. However, flaunting the law because of frustration with the law is no excuse for illegal behavior.

“The appropriate method of addressing immigration issues is through existing law or through the legislative process. Those parties who participated in the gathering and distribution of the private information of individuals should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The list was distributed to news media and law enforcement agencies by an anonymous group calling for deportation of people it included. The list contained names, birth dates, addresses, phone numbers, names of children and even the due dates of several pregnant women. It contained names from all over the state.

Within hours of the first stories about “the list,” Hispanic leaders called for Herbert to investigate whether it came from state sources — and he did so quickly.

Eli Cawley, chairman of the Utah Minutemen Project, issued a press release on Friday defending workers who released data, saying they are patriots and whistle-blowers who deserve praise and not criminal charges.

“Those who take their obligation to protect Utah citizens seriously and want to repel the invaders are great patriots,” Cawley said.

Herbert has called for a roundtable meeting about immigration on Tuesday to work on immigration reform.

Shurtleff said that because he wants to focus on such work, he has opted not to have his office join in briefs organized by other attorneys general in a federal lawsuit challenging Arizona’s tough new enforcement law.

“I’m concerned about doing something here in Utah that’s a comprehensive solution, not just enforcement only,” he said.

Some other Utahns also participated in a Friday conference call to national media to deliver a message that “the list” does not represent most Utahns.

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Utah, said, “The people of Utah are a gracious people and a good people and a moral people. This certainly does not reflect at all what the people of Utah are about.”

Paul Mero, president of the conservative Sutherland Institute, said, “This list in Utah is reprehensible. It makes me sick to my stomach. … Hopefully this list will backfire on those who decided to do this and become a tipping point on this issue that allows reason and understanding and logic to take over.”

SOURCE: DESERET NEWS

Minutemen and ALIPAC call them “Patriots”. Patriotic Americans see them as meddling criminals.

ALIPAC President, the discredited William Gheen had this to say about those identified as the perpetrators of this successful attempt to terrorize Utah’s Hispanic Community.

If their list is accurate, those behind this list should be given an award for reporting fraud against Utah taxpayers!

I have a feeling we are about to meet our new Ramos and Compeans!

For once, Gheen is correct. Ramos and Compean, as you will remember are the two former Border Patrol Agents who were convicted of shooting an unarmed and unknown individual in the back as he fled back to Mexico, failed to report the shooting to their superiors and tried to sanitize the crime scene by destroying evidence for which they were convicted by a jury of their peers and sentenced to 12 and 11 years respectively. Hopefully, the individuals in Utah will be indicted on State and Federal charges and sentenced to the appropriate time in prison for their crimes.

Another ALIPAC know nothing had this to say.

yes…I would suspect the illegal aliens will have attorney leaches from all over calling them to file civil suits alleging these illegal aliens civil rights to privacy were violated. Sickening!!! I say these two state employees are heroes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kudos go out to the Governor of Utah and the Attorney General of Utah for pursuing this as they said they would and coming up with answers fast. Gov. Gary Herbert, DWS Director Kristen Cox and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtlef, are true American heroes and Patriots in the real sense of the word.