Utah Compact on immigration remains intact after dividing Republican lawmakers

The Utah Legislature upheld the state’s 15-year-old compact on immigration amid Republican division over whether to revisit policies that make the state a welcoming place for illegal immigrants.

House Republicans had departed from the 2011 compromise in dramatic fashion last Friday when they narrowly passed a bill overturning some of the compact’s core tenets of economic integration.

On the final night of the 2026 session, Senate Republicans refused to consider the bill, along with several other House proposals, which would further limit illegal immigrants’ access to jobs and services.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox joined legislative leadership in expressing a desire for Utah to continue to pursue a balance between rule of law and human dignity as states struggle to navigate federal inaction.

“This is probably the No. 1 issue that’s on the minds of lots of Americans,” Cox said. “Because we had an administration that really screwed this up four years ago, and let far too many people across the border.”

Unlicensed drivers bill passes

Lawmakers did pass one bill to address some of the public safety concerns associated with illegal immigration. HB136 would empower police officers to enforce traffic citations against unlicensed drivers.

Even as total car crashes have fallen over the past five years, crashes involving unlicensed drivers have risen statewide, and now account for 35% of crashes and 45% of DUI arrests in West Valley City.

But law enforcement agencies report being unable to issue citations to some of these drivers because they cannot be identified. This has become a major obstacle, resulting in multiple highway fatalities.

The bill would allow law enforcement, after pulling someone over for a traffic violation, to impound an adult’s car and to do a fingerprint scan if they have no driving credential and no one can pick up the vehicle.

Another bill aimed at improving the safety of Utah roads, HB118, requiring English language ability to drive large trucks, also passed the Senate along party lines on the last night of the session.

Senate kills immigration bills

However, other House proposals that were resurrected from last year, which also sought to address the impacts of illegal immigration, did not meet approval in the Senate.

HB141, taxing foreign money transfers by illegal immigrants, HB294, requiring more businesses to verify legal status and HB386, ending subsidies for illegal immigrants, didn’t get a Senate vote.

The bill, HB386, would have repealed one of the pillars of the Utah Compact policy package — a state-run migrant worker visa program that never received a federal waiver to be implemented.

Last Friday, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, forced a House vote on a substitute version of the bill that incorporated portions of his HB88, one of the session’s most controversial bills.

Initial versions of the bill required taxpayer-funded programs to deny local or federal benefits to those who could not prove lawful presence in the U.S. This was shut down by a “voice vote” on the House floor.

But last Friday, Lee made House members vote up or down on HB386, with a newly included ban on in-state university tuition and subsidized home loans for those who are unable to prove legal residency.

The bill passed 39-33 before stalling when no senator would sponsor it. This was because it sought to unravel a hard-won consensus with no effort to build an alternative, according to Senate leadership.

The bill “does away with the Utah Compact,” which was negotiated with key constituencies, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said.

“That compact was vetted by a lot of stakeholders many years ago,” Adams said. “If you don’t bring everyone back together, how do you actually wash away a compact without that type of effort?”

The Utah Compact, which was re-signed by community leaders in 2019, outlined five principles, including recognizing federal immigration authority, maintaining family unity and facilitating immigrants’ assimilation.

Utah Speaker Mike Schultz acknowledged the toll historic levels of immigration has had on Utahns. Some local services were “overwhelmed” before the Trump administration closed the border, he said.

But Utah’s Republican majority still believes a “balance” can be struck on immigration policy that values Utah as a “diverse state” with a “diverse economy,” according to Schultz.

Immigration population doubles

Since 2019, the illegal immigrant population in Utah doubled from an estimated 90,000 to nearly 180,000, and the number of English as a Second Language students grew to more than 58,400.

A recent analysis of federal immigration data found that during the final 18 months of the Biden administration, Salt Lake City received more immigrant arrivals per capita than nearly any other city in the country.

The rate of 1,685 immigrant arrivals for every 100,000 residents was mirrored by a statewide rate of 1,015, making Utah sixth in the nation, outranking hot spots like Arizona, Nevada and California.

Amid a nationwide deportation crackdown, Lee told the Deseret News the Trump administration asked him to pursue policies that would remove incentives for illegal immigration to encourage self-deportation.

Lee’s other immigration proposals, repealing Utah’s driving privilege card program, and blocking access to banks, jobs and housing for illegal immigrants, were held without a committee hearing.

States around the country are struggling with the same impacts of mass immigration. Neighboring states like Colorado have even higher rates of immigration-related crime than Utah.

Throughout the session lawmakers lamented that multiple presidential administrations rejected Utah’s 2011 migrant worker program and that Congress had failed to reform immigration law.

Faced with federal dysfunction, and a lack of political will to resolve a useful campaign issue, Cox said governors are currently engaging in conversations about federal immigration solutions.

But regardless of what happens on the national level, Cox hopes Utah can continue to be a model of common sense and compassionate policies, even if that means revisiting the 15-year-old compact.

“In Utah, we believe that you should have to follow the law, that we should make people follow the law, and that we can do that with dignity and respect,” Cox said. “In Utah, we care about doing this the right way.”