As the angst continues to swirl within Utah Republican circles over the LDS Church’s increasingly apparent support of the Legislature’s package of immigration bills that includes a guest-worker provision, there is an elephant-in-the-room component that everyone seems to be missing. The LDS Church has as big a stake in this debate as any institution or association. Therefore, despite those who cry foul over the church’s support of more humanitarian solutions than an Arizona-style enforcement-only law, church officials and lobbyists not only had a right to get involved at the legislative level, it had an obligation to do so.
Approximately 16,000 LDS missionaries currently are serving in Latin America — about 3,600 in Mexico alone. The legislators who criticize the church’s involvement claim that a large percentage of the immigrant Mormon converts living in Utah are here illegally.