LDS Weighs In With The Utah Compact

People are now familiar with the people supporting tighter immigration laws, and the people who don't. But in Utah, these people have to fight around the looming presence of the LDS Church, which has its own ideas how things should work, and which, almost always in Utah, gets its way:

The compact calls for a federal fix to immigration reform and urges Utah leaders to avoid policies that would unnecessarily separate families; that would redirect police resources to the prosecution of civil, rather than criminal, offenses; and would sully Utah’s reputation as a “welcoming and business-friendly state.”

The LDS Church, in turn, emphasized three principles of its own:

• Love thy neighbor: “The Savior taught that the meaning of ‘neighbor’ includes all of God’s children, in all places, at all times.”

• Strengthen families: “Families are meant to be together. Forced separation of working parents from their children weakens families and damages society.”

• Observe the law: “Every nation has the right to enforce its laws and secure its borders. All persons subject to a nation’s laws are accountable for their acts.”