'Promise fulfilled': Utah Republicans celebrate Trump's emergency declaration at the border

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, in Washington.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, in Washington. (Evan Vucci, Associated Press)


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KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • Utah Republicans who spoke with KSL.com praised President Trump's national emergency declaration on the southern border.
  • They said they support stricter immigration policies but emphasized the need for broader reform.
  • Discussions on public lands and energy reforms are ongoing with Trump's administration.

WASHINGTON — Utah's Republican lawmakers celebrated after President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border shortly after being sworn in Monday.

Perhaps no issue dominated the 2024 campaign cycle more than immigration, and several of Utah's senators and representatives cited it as a top priority for the early days of Trump's second administration. In interviews with KSL.com in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, several members also listed public lands and federal spending as areas they hope to make progress on.

Trump has promised to deport millions of undocumented Americans and on Monday signed orders cracking down on illegal immigration at the southern border and reinstating his "remain in Mexico" policy. His Justice Department has threatened to prosecute jurisdictions that do not enforce federal policies for undocumented migrants. He has also signed an order seeking to revoke birthright citizenship, a move that has already been challenged in court.

Rep. Mike Kennedy — the newest member of Utah's delegation, who took office earlier this month — celebrated Trump's border actions, borrowing the president's declaration of an emerging "golden age of America" from his inaugural address. He blamed immigration "sanctuary cities" for contributing to the flow of migrants coming in at the southern border but said some in progressive cities have begun to focus more on the issue.

"We had states like New York and Illinois complaining about their immigration problems — which, actually, on some level, they created by offering sanctuary to aliens that were coming in," Kennedy said. "I do think that that border promise fulfilled already, and we're just a little over 24 hours in this presidency, I find that to be refreshing."

Utah's other representatives agreed that Trump's Day 1 actions represented a significant improvement in border policy, but Sen. John Curtis said there is more Congress needs to do to address long-term immigration reform.

"I think it's very important to separate what's happened at the border from immigration policy. We have policy at the border that is just not being followed, and so that's why I think the executive orders are appropriate there," he said. "We have some very broken, out-of-date immigration laws that simply don't accommodate for our country's needs and for the ability to match up people who want to come here, obey our laws, pay taxes."

Utah relies on immigrant labor in the agriculture, tourism and hospitality industries, as do many other states. A broader immigration reform bill was proposed by a bipartisan group of senators last year, but the effort was reportedly killed by Trump, for whom the issue was an important campaign platform. It's unclear whether a similar measure will be on the table during the current Congress.

Utah's congressional delegation helped approve the bipartisan Laken Riley Act this week, which increases the number of crimes that mandate detention if undocumented migrants are charged with committing them. The bill is named for a 22-year-old woman who was killed last year in Georgia by an undocumented migrant who had previously fled after being charged with shoplifting.

Energy and public lands

Public lands have long been a point of contention between Utah and Washington, but Republican lawmakers see an opening for a more permanent solution under Trump. Rep. Celeste Maloy last week introduced a measure that would amend the Antiquities Act of 1909 to remove presidential authority to unilaterally designate national monuments.

Trump curried favor in Utah by reducing the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments during his first term, and is expected to take similar action again after the monuments were expanded under President Joe Biden.

"It's time for Congress to take back that authority of designating national monuments because it's not something that should be used as a political tool," Maloy said. "It's something that should be used as a land management tool — where we're protecting sacred sites or antiquities or scientific sites — instead of it being a landscape management tool, which is what presidents are doing now."

Maloy has been in talks with Trump's team about the future of southern Utah's monuments but remained coy about what is in the works, saying she doesn't want to "get ahead of the administration."

Curtis said he is looking forward to working with Trump on permitting reform aimed at speeding up the timeframe for energy projects to get approval. The issue has also been top of mind for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who wants to see the state double its energy production in the next decade.

The issue — once the domain of energy policy wonks — is growing in prominence in Washington, according to Curtis, even if it doesn't always get the attention reserved for immigration and spending.

Curtis said current permitting regulations are slowing down new energy projects — including cleaner forms of energy such as nuclear and geothermal, which he says are essential to moving away from fossil fuel use. In the House, Curtis established the Conservative Climate Caucus, which has grown to include more than 80 GOP members. The senator said he plans to continue his efforts to address climate change in the Senate but is still in the early stages with his new colleagues.

"I bring it up with my colleagues and, much like in the House, there's a lot of support," he said. "What is undetermined is what shape it takes, if it's a new caucus here or an existing caucus, and just what my role will be. But I think it's fair to say I'll keep talking about it."

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Bridger Beal-Cvetko is a reporter for KSL.com. He covers politics, Salt Lake County communities and breaking news. Bridger has worked for the Deseret News and graduated from Utah Valley University.

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