SHOCKING: Non-Citizens to Serve as Police Officers in Utah

Utah lawmakers have passed legislation that would allow certain non-U.S. citizens to serve as police officers in the state, reviving a policy debate that first played out in the legislature five years ago.

The measure removes the citizenship requirement for individuals who are lawful permanent residents and who otherwise meet all of Utah’s existing standards for becoming a certified police officer, including background checks, training, and licensing requirements administered by the state.

The bill’s passage drew a sharp reaction from at least one prominent conservative voice. Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz wrote on social media that the measure was “crazy and wrong,” reflecting concerns among some critics that law enforcement authority should remain tied strictly to U.S. citizenship.

This is not the first time Utah has grappled with this question. In 2021, the state legislature passed a similar measure, Senate Bill 102, sponsored by then-Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne, which allowed lawful permanent residents who had lived in the U.S. for at least five years and had legal work authorization to qualify as police officers.

That 2021 law passed with what was described at the time as little organized opposition in the legislature, and it was signed by Governor Spencer Cox. Supporters framed it then, as they do now, as a practical tool for law enforcement agencies struggling to fill open positions amid a nationwide police recruiting shortage.

Rep. Paul Ray, who sponsored the House version of the 2021 legislation, said at the time that the change would help relieve pressure on police chiefs statewide who were struggling to find enough qualified applicants. “In talking to chiefs, this would really help relieve the stress that they have on hiring people,” Ray said.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera also backed the earlier legislation, framing it as a way to build police departments that better reflect the communities they serve. She acknowledged, however, that recruiting had become increasingly difficult across the board, citing both a shrinking applicant pool and low morale within law enforcement generally.

Supporters of the citizenship carve-out have consistently pointed to an existing precedent: the U.S. military has allowed non-citizen lawful permanent residents to serve in uniform for decades, a fact lawmakers have repeatedly cited when arguing that police service should be treated similarly.

During earlier committee hearings, State Sen. Todd Weiler, a Republican who chaired the relevant committee, directly raised that comparison, asking a bill supporter how being a police officer differed meaningfully from military service in terms of the trust and responsibility placed in a non-citizen resident.

One of the more prominent public faces of the original push was Junior Enrique Sanchez, a Park City man and recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, who worked as a civilian employee for the Park City Police Department but was barred from becoming a sworn officer under the state’s prior citizenship requirement.

Sanchez testified in support of the legislation, describing a lifelong dream of becoming a police officer that had been blocked solely by his immigration status rather than any lack of qualification, training, or community standing.

Under both the current bill and the earlier 2021 law, the eligibility standards remain fairly narrow. Applicants must hold lawful permanent resident status, have lived continuously in the United States for at least five years, and possess legal authorization to work, criteria intended to allow time for a thorough background vetting process.

Ray defended that five-year window specifically as a safeguard, arguing it gives law enforcement agencies sufficient time to conduct background checks and identify any disqualifying conduct. “If they were in trouble in their former country, they come here, if they’re a person that gets in trouble, that’s going to happen in that five-year period,” Ray said.

Sheriff Rivera, while supportive of the policy, acknowledged practical limitations in that vetting process, particularly for applicants coming from refugee backgrounds. She noted that conducting background checks can be especially difficult for individuals fleeing war zones or countries where reliable historical records simply do not exist.

Following the enactment of the earlier law, Utah’s Peace Officer Standards and Training division, known as POST, updated its certification procedures to formally allow eligible non-citizens to pursue peace officer certification, provided they meet all statutory requirements under the amended state code.

Salt Lake City’s police chief later wrote publicly in support of the policy, arguing that allowing legal non-citizens to serve strengthens community trust and recruiting efforts alike, and suggesting that other states and even federal policymakers in Washington ought to take note of Utah’s approach.

Not everyone in the state has embraced the change. Some conservative advocacy groups criticized the original 2021 legislation at the time, framing the removal of the citizenship requirement as an erosion of a basic expectation that law enforcement authority should be reserved for citizens of the country whose laws officers are sworn to enforce.

That underlying tension, between addressing very real police staffing shortages and maintaining traditional citizenship-based standards for positions of public trust and authority, appears likely to persist as this latest legislation moves forward and potentially reaches the governor’s desk.

For now, the practical effect of the newly passed bill mirrors much of what was already established under the 2021 law, reinforcing and continuing a policy that Utah adopted five years ago as one of a relatively small number of states permitting non-citizens to serve in sworn law enforcement roles.