Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank is on public record as deliberately defying a legislative mandate to enforce immigration laws locally. Chief Burbank says that he and SLCPD are opting out of Senate Bill 81, passed during the 2008 session and taking effect on July 1st, 2009. SB81 cracks down further on illegal immigration. Adding to the mix, the bill's House sponsor, Rep. Mike Noel (R-Kanab) proposes retaliation by cutting off some funding to SLCPD.

However, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is taking Chief Burbank's side. Nearly 1,000 people have posted comments to the KSL story, most negative. A concurrent poll run by KSL Channel 5 shows that 61 percent of respondents want the legislature to punish SLCPD by cutting off their state funding in some fashion. Story link:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6096988

Voice Of Deseret (http://voice-of-deseret.blogspot.com/2009/04/is-salt-lake-city-police-chief-and-adl.html) reveals a Jewish connection. Chief Burbank was part of a U.S. law enforcement contingent which visited Israel last year for "anti-terrorist" training (http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/5357_62.htm). The trip was sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. Voice Of Deseret also reveals how Burbank is actually misrepresenting the legislation.

And here's Chief Burbank, granting an interview to Telemundo, kissing Latino ass:

YouTube - Police Chief Burbank on SB-81

I just found out that Salt Lake Mayor Ralph Becker issued a statement backing up his police chief:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6096988&pid=1

News release from Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker

"I am concerned that news coverage this morning regarding the impact of state immigration legislation may cause alarm in our immigrant communities and I want to clarify both the effect of the legislation and Salt Lake City's position. The legislation (S.B. 81) was passed by the 2008 Legislature but does not go into effect until July 1, 2009.

The law requires state and local agencies to confirm the legal residency of anyone seeking public benefits. Public employers must confirm the legal residency of any new employees, and private contractors doing business with a public employer must also use a Status Verification System with all their workers. These provisions merely comply with federal requirements.

The aspect of the law that was the subject of controversy this morning is the requirement that the Utah State Attorney General must negotiate with the U.S. Department of Justice or Department of Homeland Security for the enforcement of federal immigration and customs laws within the state by state and local law enforcement personnel.

I have been personally assured that the Attorney General will not negotiate an MOU that will require Salt Lake City or other jurisdictions to enforce immigration law. The MOU may provide such authority but it will not be a mandate and Salt Lake City police officers will not be cross deputized. Salt Lake City police officers will not begin to enforce immigration law.

United States Attorney for Utah, Brett Tolman, has also offered the opinion that due to recent court cases, illegal immigrants cannot be prosecuted in Utah or other non-border states merely for their presence in the state unless they have committed a crime.

My Administration has worked hard to create a relationship of trust and cooperation in our immigrant community and an environment in which both victims and witnesses of crime are willing to come forward to assist our Police Department in resolving criminal cases. Police cannot deter or solve crime if victims and witnesses are afraid to cooperate with the police because they might be deported.

I want to assure everyone concerned that this legislation does not require a change in our policy and that all our residents can continue to feel safe in cooperating with the Salt Lake City Police Department to solve any crime in which they are a victim or a witness or in which they can provide valuable information.

My office spoke with Rep. Noel today and expressed our opposition to cross deputization of Salt Lake City police officers. Rep. Noel assures me that his intent is not to mandate Salt Lake City police officers enforce federal immigration law.

Rep. Noel also reassured me that he does not intend to seek retribution against Salt Lake City for declining to deputize our law enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration law.

I look forward to a continuing dialogue with Rep. Noel and his colleagues in the Legislature as I advocate for the interests of Salt Lake City's immigrant residents."

S.L. City Mayor Ralph Becker

According to OJJPAC (http://www.ojjpac.com/sanctuary.asp), Salt Lake is a sanctuary city for illegal aliens.

It will be interesting to watch what these "sanctuary city" people are going to do as they literally go bankrupt and run out of money.

Mormon numbers are down, they need all the converts they can get. The church gets 10% of the incomes of all it's members, so if they have to import 3rd world scum to get it then they see no problem with it.

Brigham Young must be rolling in his grave.

The problem is the LDS Church leadership takes no particular position on immigration. Consequently, there is a battle between "compassion" vs. "compliance". An Arizona Republic article from April 2nd explores this issue:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/04/02/20090402ldslatinos0402.html

The Mormon Church is one of the fastest-growing denominations in the country, and much of that growth is coming from an unlikely source: Latino immigrants.

Latinos overwhelmingly are raised Catholic, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is aggressively reaching out to them by touting the religion's heavy focus on family and community, pillars of the Mormon faith that are also at the center of Hispanic culture.

As a result, Latinos are joining the Mormon Church at a greater rate than members of any ethnic group, even Anglos, church leaders say.

But the outreach has created some unusual conflicts because the majority of the Latino converts are undocumented immigrants, which goes against a major tenet of the Mormon Church: obeying the law.

At the same time, some Mormons who say the church teaches compassion are upset that fellow members, including Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, have spearheaded a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

"What has happened among a good number of LDS members is that they have been shaped by the Republican Party of the last 40 years. They gravitate to the Republican Party, and the party has become very anti-immigrant, culture-wars-oriented," said Brigham Young University history Professor Ignacio Garcia.

{snip}

Since Joseph Smith Jr. founded the Mormon Church in 1830 in upstate New York, proselytizing has been a cornerstone of the Mormon faith. The church sends missionaries all over the world.

In recent years, the church has been teaching missionaries Spanish, not only to proselytize in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, but also to tap into the surging Latino population in the United States, including the 1.8 million Latinos in Arizona

The Mormons are not alone. Many denominations, from Baptists to Methodists, are vigorously trying to reach Latinos. But perhaps none has done so as methodically as the Mormon Church.

Of the 186 missionaries assigned to the Mesa mission, the largest in the state, 52 are Spanish speakers. Their work has helped grow the number of Spanish-speaking Mormon congregations in the Phoenix area from fewer than five a decade ago to more than 30 today, church leaders say.

The majority of the Spanish-speaking congregations are in Mesa, which was founded by Mormon settlers in the late 1800s, but congregations have also sprouted in Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Peoria, Glendale, Chandler, Queen Creek and Gilbert.

There are now about 7,000 Latino Mormons in the Valley.

Garcia estimates that nationwide, 70 percent of all Latino converts in the past 10 to 15 years are undocumented immigrants.

"Our position is to invite everyone to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his plans for his children independent of national origin," said Mark Bassett, president of the LDS Mesa mission. "We don't know what their immigration status is. We are not the government or the police."

{snip}

To appeal to Latinos, the missionaries emphasize the faith's focus on family and community. But perhaps more importantly, the missionaries don't ask about immigration status and don't care if an immigrant reveals he is in the country illegally.

They are assigned to the Liahona Second Branch, a Spanish-speaking congregation in Mesa. At times, church members provide food, clothing, job referrals - even a chance to earn some money doing yard work or other odd jobs - when they learn immigrants have lost jobs due to the economic downturn or laws aimed at cracking down on the undocumented, said Pablo Felix, the congregation president.

"Our job is to bring souls under Christ," Felix said. "The Lord doesn't look at documentation. He just looks at our faith as members."

Some state lawmakers, on the other hand, are trying to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona. Pearce said his immigration legislation, including the state's 15-month-old employer-sanctions law, is rooted in the Mormon Church's 13 Articles of Faith. "We believe in laws and the sustaining and obeying of the laws of the land," Pearce said.

At the same time, Pearce said he is sympathetic toward illegal immigrants. "I tell you, most of these are good people," he said. "But you are still taking jobs from Americans, suppressing wages and breaking the law. We can't tolerate that."

Still, he doesn't believe Mormons are undermining his efforts by reaching out to Latinos. "They are not providing sanctuary policies for them, unlike some folks who hide behind their religious status and are (promoting) sanctuary policies. This church simply doesn't ask (about immigration status)."

Some Mormons, though, think the Pearce-led crackdown hurts immigrant families, including the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, and goes against the Mormon faith's emphasis on families and compassion.

Pearce's role in the immigration legislation has fueled perceptions that the Mormon Church is behind the crackdown. Wilford Andersen, a member of church's Southwest governing body, said Pearce does not speak for the church.

"Just like any church, there are people with different opinions," Andersen said. "People have the right to disagree on political issues and the right to consider issues carefully and come to their own conclusions, and we respect that, as do other churches."

The church has not taken a position on immigration, Andersen said. "But we feel it is our responsibility to minister to all of God's children, regardless of (immigration) status," he said.

Immigration has touched off a "quiet revolution" within the Mormon Church, said Garcia, the Brigham Young professor. The church sees Latinos as the best opportunity for growth because of their numbers and openness to new faiths, but there is resistance from Mormons who tend to be conservative Republicans, he said.

Senator Russell Pearce has been under savage sustained attack by a Phoenix New Times blogger, Stephen Lemons, who blogs under the name of the Feathered Bastard. The Phoenix New Times is more suitable for the litter box or the birdcage rather than for human consumption. Lemons has attempted to link Pearce with the local pro-White movement in Phoenix. And Pearce has been forced to "run for cover" as a result.

"My Administration has worked hard to create a relationship of trust and cooperation in our immigrant community and an environment in which both victims and witnesses of crime are willing to come forward to assist our Police Department in resolving criminal cases. Police cannot deter or solve crime if victims and witnesses are afraid to cooperate with the police because they might be deported.

"I want to assure everyone [...] that all our residents can continue to feel safe in cooperating with the Salt Lake City Police Department to solve any crime in which they are a victim or a witness or in which they can provide valuable information." - Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker

...but not a perpetrator, eh?

Illegal immigrants are criminals. Yet the Mayor is acting like they are "CrimeStoppers" and on a par with the police department's top detectives.

Hey, without Julio reporting Sanchez, and Sanchez reporting Maria, and Maria reporting Julio, the community would have no chance of standing up to a crime wave! :rolleyes:

If all illegals were sent packing, eliminated would be not only a noticeable percentage of violent crime and property crime but also 100% of immigration crime.

"Our job is to bring souls under Christ," Felix said.

Do mestizos have souls? One word: Lamanites (http://www.christiandefense.org/mor_black.htm).

Shits like Felix aren't Mormon. I wouldn't be surprised to learn they're jew infiltrators.

Chief Burbank appeared this evening before a group of local spics, caved in to them completely, and they applauded him as "their hero".:ewww :puke:

http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_12112251

Latinos commend SLC cops
Chief Chris Burbank assures gathering that officers won't act as immigration officers.

By María Villaseñor

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 04/09/2009 11:01:48 PM MDT

A crowd of more than a hundred Latinos stood and applauded Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank for his commitment that officers would not become immigration agents.

"We think you're a hero," said Frank Cordova, vice president of the Centro Civico Mexicano, where the gathering was held Thursday.

Burbank had announced a day earlier that he would not cross-deputize his agency with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a provision Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has said is allowed by SB81, an immigration reform bill set to become law July 1.

"We need police officers to develop a level of trust with our community," Burbank told the audience. "Nobody should live in fear."

The police chief wants to ensure the public safety of the whole community regardless of immigration status -- a matter of civil law, Burbank said, not criminal law.

He also told the crowd that he wants his officers to learn Spanish.

Burbank and Mayor Ralph Becker encouraged residents not to fear officers, but to be comfortable calling and working with the police.

"If you are abiding by the law, we want you to know that we're here to help you, we're not here to seek you out," Becker told the audience. He added the immigration system is "badly broken" and expressed optimism in reports that the Obama administration is making the issue a priority.

With two American-born children, resident Rosa Flores worries what could happen to her and her husband, neither a legal resident, "just because they see the color of our skin."

After hearing the mayor and police chief speak, Flores said she was a bit relieved, but still worries of what other police departments will do.

Attendees Guillermina Toro and her husband still view the police with trepidation. Toro worries she could be separated from her 2- and 3-year-old sons because she and her husband are not a legal residents.

Although Mexican, Toro said she's sometimes mistaken for being Asian, and that her husband jokes she would be deported to Japan or China.

But the concerns about SB81 extend beyond legal status, said Cordova, who said the law would simply encourage racial profiling.

"Every time they look at a brown person, they think we're undocumented," Cordova said before the meeting. He said his family originated from New Mexico, "before the border crossed us."

He and other immigration-rights activists who spoke at the meeting questioned SB81's legality and said they would sue the state once SB81 is implemented.

mariav@sltrib.com

This police chief is an outright traitor as far as I'm concerned.

Salt Lake has a resident NSM unit. This would be a golden opportunity for them to make some headway. This issue is tailor-made for them.

The chief is an open and admitted criminal, defying the law.

Wonder how our ancestors would handle him?