ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
The sponsor of that bill, Utah House Bill 116, is Utah State Representative Bill Wright who joins us now. Welcome to the program.
BILL WRIGHT: Thank you.
SIEGEL: And first, tell us: What is in this bill that you've sponsored, Utah House Bill 116?
WRIGHT: What this is is a concept. The concept is that if you're here, and you have evidence that you've been here, while there is some fines and some penalties for being here, if you're actually working, if you go through a stringent background check, if you prove that you're responsible for your debts and obligations, particularly medical debts and other things, then we will allow you to continue to be here. And we will allow you - if there's evidence of you actually working and you have all these other evidence as well, why you can apply for a guest worker permit.
SIEGEL: If I were criticizing this bill and said: What you're saying is if somebody got in and was able to find work and did it, then they're okay, that's another way of saying amnesty for people who are here already. Fair?
WRIGHT: A visa's not amnesty. So why is a guest worker permit amnesty?
SIEGEL: Let me ask you from the other end: Would a program like this, a guest worker program, would it give to the employer the remarkable authority of being able to say: This gentleman has shown up for work every day and hasn't made any unreasonable demands of me for, say, overtime or better benefits, he can stay and have a guest worker permit. But that one over there is a problem worker, so throw him out of the country.
WRIGHT: No one should be compelled to hire someone that's not productive. And if, you know, whether you're a citizen or not, if you are not productive, and you're running a business, you need to have the right and responsibility to make your business productive. And I think that's the American dream, and I think that's an American right to do that.
SIEGEL: Well, for sure, but an employer has a choice about whether or not he wants to employ me, but he doesn't have a choice about whether I have a right to live in the country. That's different from - that's something that somebody at Immigration has a choice about.
WRIGHT: That's right, and we try to keep those employer rights. I mean, if there's a date, and these - those who may be here on a guest worker permit have the ability to produce and are good employees, then they should have the right to stay here.
SIEGEL: Well, Representative Wright, that's State Representative Bill Wright, Republican in the Utah House, thank you very much for talking with us about your bill.
WRIGHT: Thank you.
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