This list was signed by “Concerned Citizens of the United States” and indicated that this group observes people in public and included language that blamed undocumented people and those on the list for increases in crime, domestic violence and substance abuse. There was a message on the list urging officials to begin deportation procedures.

Yesterday I was able to speak with Tony Yapias, who heads up the Proyecto Latino de Utah, who has seen the list and has been responding to individuals and families who were listed. Yapias offered an interesting glimpse into what is happening in Utah in regards to immigration and provided some context for how he became involved in addressing this list.

On June 30, Yapias received a phone call from a woman identifying herself as a state worker and a Latina. She went on an angry tirade criticizing Yapias’s involvement in the immigrant and Latino communities. She did not identify herself by name, but she was angry about the immigration situation and expressed that state workers wanted to have a forum with Yapias. She also sprinkled her phone tirade with sentences in Spanish.

Accustomed to receiving threatening calls from anonymous people who harbor anti-immigrant sentiments, Yapias felt that something was different about this call because of the woman’s statement about state workers wanting to have a forum with him. When Yapias asked the woman what agency she worked for, she replied “I’m all of it.” This tipped off Yapias leading him to believe that it was someone from the state of Utah’s Workforce Services, which he describes as a “one stop shop” for applying for medicaid, food stamps and other services.

On Monday, July 12, Yapias received a copy of the list, and as he read it over, he initially felt shocked and terrified. Realizing that what was contained in the list was an egregious breach of confidentiality, he decided to contact the governor’s office to request that an investigation take place. Yapias expressed to the governor’s office that he suspected that this list may have come from Workforce Services because of the kind of information contained and because of the call he received on June 30 from the unidentified state worker.

Plainly the list singled out the Latino community because of the Spanish surnames, leaving out the possibility that other non-Latino immigrants could very well be using state services or in fact be undocumented. Last week, in another media interview with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Yapias said,”…They don’t have any other names on this. I mean, yes, most of the undocumented immigrants in our community—in our state or throughout the country are Latinos. But, you know, what about the 35 percent or so who are non-Latinos—Asians, African—from Africa, from Europe, from the rest of the world?”

Utah Governor Gary Herbert asked that an immediate state agency review take place on Tuesday, July 13, and by Thursday, July 15, the state had found at least two state workers who may have been responsible for the creation of the list. The employees who do work for the Department of Workforce Services have been suspended from their jobs pending the ongoing investigation, but the person who made the call to Yapias apparently has not been suspended from her job and has even admitted to her supervisor that she instigated that phone call.

From what has been revealed at this point, it does appear that state and federal laws have been broken in the distribution of this list of “undocumented people”. Furthermore, some of the people on the list were in fact legal and one person on the list was even getting ready to take the citizenship examination. Yapias indicated that he suspects charges will be filed within the next week against those workers who breached the laws of confidentiality with this data. When asked what he felt about the attorney general prosecuting this case, he said, “Nothing lesser than full prosecution should be accepted.”

When I asked if there were other vigilante type acts happening in Utah in the name of immigration enforcement, Yapias said that there really isn’t much vigilante behavior except for this one. He also commented about the situation in neighboring Arizona creating an environment for the states wanting to take immigration matters into their own hands and offered this:

“These workers had access to information that was very confidential. We trust that this information should remain private. They [those who compiled the list] thought that they were being patriotic by identifying the “illegals” to turn into the feds and other state agencies, but they didn’t calculate how this could backfire.”

Because in Utah, the LDS church (Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints aka Mormon Church) is heavily involved in civic and political life, I did ask Yapias if the Mormon Church has commented on immigration more recently because of what is happening in Arizona and because he has asked the President of the Church for an official declaration, much like what the Catholic Bishops have offered on the immigration issue.

“Unless the LDS church takes a stand like Bishop Wester did on behalf of immigration reform in representing the US Catholic Bishops, we will have a similar law to the one passed in Arizona here in Utah,” Yapias opined.

Russell Pearce, one of the lawmakers behind Arizona’s SB 1070, is considered a “devout Mormon.” And ironically, Mormons have had their own immigration history migrating to Utah and settling there as squatters when it was still part of Mexico, and today some of the break off sects of the Mormon church have settled in the Mexican state of Chihuahua to avoid polygamy laws in the US. I have noticed that the traditional media doesn’t explore the LDS connection, but it is a dimension worth exploring since this faith and members of it are heavily involved in both Utah and Arizona politics.

For more information about this case, read and watch the following:

“They Have Terrorized Our Community” via Democracy Now!

Footage from KSL TV in Salt Lake City

And since Mitt Romney is back in the news, this blog is worth revisiting regarding the Mormon Church and its history with people of color.

A major factor for me opposing this initiative was the large cash infusion for the “Yes on 8″ campaign that came from Mormons in Utah. These people don’t even live in California, and it bothers me that they felt the need to exert their influence in our progressive state. Mormons, of all people who know what it is like to be discriminated against because of marriage, decided to reignite the morality war in the name of marriage. Why the hypocrisy?  

Another reason I voted ”No on 8″ was the interaction that I have had with gay and lesbian couples, some of whom are married. Their marriages do nothing to harm me, don’t make me think any less of the family unit, and certainly don’t encourage anyone to “go gay.” When people try to argue that the core of the family should include a married man and woman, I can’t help but think about all of the co-habitating couples, children who are being born out of wedlock, and families being headed by single parents. Are those families any “less”? Personally, I think that the rise in out of wedlock births and divorce are more damaging than same-sex marriage. I have met gay couples who are more committed to their partners than straight couples are (hence, the desire for the ceremony, vows, and rings). So this whole notion that gays and lesbians are making a mockery out of marriage doesn’t hold with me.

Finally, I just cannot imagine taking away what should be a basic right when we are struggling with civil and human rights as a community. I don’t need to get into a long discussion of the incarceration rates of Latinos or the tragedies of the recent immigration raids and detention situations, but this quote from Fernando Espuelas sums it up perfectly, “The irony of Latino support for Prop. 8 is sad. That a community that continues to struggle for basic rights would deny them to another is particularly baffling.”

First off, how many of you know that Mitt Romney’s dad was born in Mexico? That’s right, George W. Romney, father of Mitt, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. George Romney’s grandparents were polygamous Mormons who left the United States when the federal government began to crack down on the practice. Today there are still Mormons in this part of Mexico, including some distant relatives of Mitt Romney. If you look at this article and scroll down, you will see a picture of some of the Romneys who currently live in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, a Mormon enclave. From what I understand, polygamy was illegal in Mexico when the Mormons first settled there, and as far as I can tell, it is still not permitted. Apparently, this particular group of Mormons in Colonia Juarez does not practice polygamy today, but there are fundamentalist sects, broken off from the main LDS church, engaging in the controversial practice in Mexico, parts of Canada and here in the US. Today, Mitt Romney ironically, takes a very anti-immigration stance. His ancestors immigrated to Mexico to have multiple wives, while immigrants from Mexico come to the United States primarily for economic reasons today. While I believe that we need some sort of comprehensive immigration reform, I was hoping that Mr. Romney would be a little more sympathetic to our neighbors south of the border given his connection to Mexico. Last year, Romney spoke positively about providing a path toward citizenship for illegal immigrants, but it sounds like he has heightened the anti-immigration rhetoric, saying that illegal immigrants should get in line to come to the US. Uh, can anyone tell me where this line is? Is it outside of the local Home Depot store where American builders and contractors wait to pick up undocumented day laborers?

Mitt Romney also has a terrible record on diversity. While I can’t wait for George Bush’s administration to end, I have to give him a little credit for making an effort to create a somewhat diverse cabinet. GWB’s people might not be the most competent, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t Latinos, blacks, Asians, women, and gays who have the qualifications and who could do a wonderful job. Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes that Romney had an atrocious record as governor of Massachusetts for appointing minorities and women to judicial posts. It wasn’t until his last year in office that he made more appointments of women and minorities, which seems to be a calculated move as he was gearing up for the big run.

And even though he doesn’t like to talk about it, there’s the whole Mormon issue, which I started to address in mentioning Romney’s own familial immigration story. I respect anyone’s right to practice a faith, but this is a rather peculiar religion. Up until 1978, blacks were not allowed to be in the Mormon priesthood. Additionally, Mormons believe that the Native Americans came from the Holy Land and were marked with darker skin to identify their wickedness. If you read the Wikipedia definition of a Lamanite, you will gain some insight. So among the Mormon faithful, those of us with Native American lineage bear the mark of the curse of God. Oddly enough, Mormons have a hard time trying to refute the piles of data suggesting that Native Americans came here from Asia. Imagine telling the Palestinians and Jews in the Holy Land that we have a stake there too?!

Now, some might say that we should ignore this whole Mormon thing, but I don’t think that we should dismiss it so easily. Sure, people of color have not always been treated well by modern religious sects, and yes, 47 years ago, JFK had to explain that he would govern separate from the Catholic church. But note that JFK did not go on a Catholic mission, aiming to convert people to his faith. Mitt Romney skipped out on the Vietnam War to go proselytize for a faith that had and still has exclusionary values. If you look at the biographies of Romney’s sons, they, like their father, all attended the Mormon college, BYU. How many Catholics, Jews, or Protestants send all of their children to schools within their faith? As Catholic as the Kennedys are, you don’t see them all rushing off to Notre Dame or Boston College. I find the college choice of the Romney boys, given their vast resources to study in so many places, a little strange, don’t you? But wait, it gets even better with these kids. Romney has stated that his sons are serving our country by working on his campaign when asked why none of them are serving in Iraq. I’m sure that many of the soldiers in Iraq would rather sit on a campaign bus and tour the country instead of sweating in the scorching hot desert trying to avoid improvised explosives. By the way, Romney supports the war in Iraq.

The other issue I have with Romney has to do with his continual flip flopping on the issues. He’s done this with abortion. He once was pro-choice at least in public, but now he’s pro-life. As I pointed out, he did have a more progressive point of view regarding immigration, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. He is also heavily invested in the gambling industry, specifically the MGM Mirage. Just the other day, I heard Romney say something about cleaning up moral pollution on the TV and internet. If he wants to jump on the morality band wagon, wouldn’t it be wise to put his money where his mouth is, especially in regards to gambling, and just avoid those holdings altogether? Also, as I understand it, Mormons are not supposed to gamble. For someone who has been a missionary and leader in his church, how does he personally reconcile the gambling investments with his faith’s teachings? Romney also owns stock in a company that conducts business in the Sudan and Iran, but he states that he was prevented from directing the use of these funds as this money was secured in a blind trust. How convenient, huh? Mr. Romney just removes himself from his wealth with the good old blind trust excuse. He is very much a “do as I say, not as I do” type of person. I don’t think that we can endure another four years of these kinds of “family values.”

Finally, Romney also skipped out on attending the National Association of Latino Elected Officials and National Council of La Raza conferences as well. I don’t even think that he sent one of his sons to do outreach at two of our major conferences. I’m going to end this post with a picture of the Romneys. Notice there aren’t any “little brown ones.” Of course, the Romneys don’t need to include us in their private lives should they chose not to, but I have a feeling that if this guy gets in office that his administration will resemble this picture in a way that won’t be good for us.