Photo by Tom Kelly/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Park City, Utah's Deer Valley resort at night, February 2011
The snow sports website OnTheSnow.com published an editorial today praising Utah’s state legislature for approving a bill that would grant two-year work permits to undocumented workers, provided they pay fines and can prove they have been living and working in the state.
What’s most interesting about the piece is its candor:
Winter and summer tourist promoters feared passage of “Arizona-style” bills that take a hard line on persons living in the United States without proper documentation.
In Utah, as in many tourist states, such immigrants come looking for work and fill essential though menial positions at many resorts, like cleaning rooms.
The piece goes on:
Anyone who stays at a Rocky Mountain winter resort has likely seen the proliferation of Spanish-speaking employees, particularly those from Mexico, in recent years. However, mountain resorts in Utah and elsewhere don’t reveal how many undocumented workers are employed in their lodges, restaurants and other facilities – if they even know.
