Utah Governors office researches origin of 1,300 alleged illegal immigrants list

Wednesday, the Utah office of the Governor is trying to determine where the list of 1,300 alleged illegal immigration came from. The list was released to law enforcement agencies and Utah media Monday, and it is so detailed that many news reports have stated that it must have come from a government agency. While some of the information contained in the list is outdated (phone numbers), other information contains information about who on the list is pregnant.

"We're closing in on different possibilities even now," said Jason Perry, the governor’s chief of staff told KSL Wednesday. "The state of Utah is a very high-tech state. We understand these databases pretty well, so we'll be able to have an answer in the very short future of whether we think it came from the state or not."

Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert is getting updates by the hour about the research on the list.

"If it did come from a state database, we're going to know it," Perry said. "If that's what happened, then we will take some corrective action immediately through the attorney general's office."

If it is determined the list was taken from a government agency, then several laws most likely were broken by taking and releasing the information publicly.

Wednesday, KSL contacted several people on the list and confirmed that they are legal immigrants.

To read more about what the Utah list of alleged illegal immigrants contains, click here.

The alleged illegal immigration list in Utah is gaining national attention because of the ongoing debate over Arizona’s illegal immigration law that is scheduled to begin July 29.

Arizona's new controversial immigration law requires that police officers question a person’s immigration status if they suspect a person may be in the country illegally; the line of questioning is allowable if they have stopped the person while attempting to enforce another law…such as speeding or jaywalking.

Anti-immigration law critics say the new law discriminates against Hispanics.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit this week against the state of Arizona and Governor Jan Brewer over the new immigration law, in an attempt to stop it from beginning at the end of July. For more on that story, click here.

Over two dozen government agencies have boycotted the state of Arizona because of its controversial immigration law. To read more about that story, click here.

To see a slideshow of photos that shows protests of Arizona’s controversial immigration law, click here.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s new immigration law will begin at the end of the month. Brewer met with Obama a few weeks ago at the White House about the law. For more information on that story and a video, click here.

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Sources: ABC 4 and KSL

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