Houston Chronicle:Utah immigration bills could signal welcome shift from Arizona-style polarization.

[pampango]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7478790.html

Last April, it looked as though Arizona's tough new immigration law would result in a wave of similar measures around the country. About 20 other state legislatures, buoyed by tea party rhetoric and a Republican election sweep, were preparing bills that echoed that state's harsh, anti-immigrant stance.

But things haven't panned out that way. The Arizona law has proved both controversial and expensive — a legal minefield - and many states have relinquished or scaled back their original plans to follow suit.

But it is Utah's guest worker legislation that is the most surprising and refreshing. One bill offers two-year work permits to undocumented workers and their families living in the state as long as they pay a fine and do not commit a serious crime, while another would bring guest workers into the state from Mexico.

Since knowingly hiring illegal workers is a federal offense, the state is open to federal prosecution unless a waiver is granted. But Utah has taken the novel step of including a negotiating process in its legislation, whereby the governor, Gary R. Herbert, has until 2013 to negotiate with federal authorities for such a waiver.

The U.S. Congress has been unable to formulate a workable immigration policy. Here's hoping they can take a cue from Utah's actions so that by 2013 its governor won't have to negotiate to do the right thing for his state and all its workers.