The Salt Lake City, Utah City Council has voted 4 to 3 against participating in a pilot project that would have allowed Salt Lake policeman to enforce immigration laws. City Council members opposing the bill were concerned that the program would institutionalize prejudice against Hispanics because there is already a perception that illegal immigrants are behind the city's criminal drug problems. Proponents of the bill supported the project claiming that it would increase the manpower available to deport illegal aliens who commit crimes.

The City Council voted against the plan after hearing testimony from more than 70 people, most of whom spoke against the plan.

The proposal, the first of its type in the US, would have deputized 20 police officers to act on behalf of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The pilot program would implement a provision in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The measure was strongly backed by Attorney General Janet Reno and Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch.

Currently, when police make an arrest and they suspect someone of being illegally present in the US, they contact the INS and wait for the INS to come and process the person, possibly for deportation. Often, the INS is not able to send someone because of the agency's limited resources. The proposal would allow an INS-deputized police officer to process the person and deliver them to the INS detention center in Denver.

In a related matter, the Alamance County, North Carolina City Commission is discussing a similar proposal to give police officers there the power to investigate, arrest and deport illegal aliens. However, the proposal in North Carolina will not proceed for the time being now that the Salt Lake City pilot project has been tabled.