Paradise Valley Stake High Council Member Daryl M. Williams Says One Cannot Be A Good Mormon And Want To Deport Illegal Immigrants

The Phoenix New Times discloses that a member of the high council of the Paradise Valley Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mesa, Arizona gave a talk at a fireside on April 8th, 2011 in which he questioned whether any member of the Church who desired to deport illegal immigrants could be considered a "good Mormon". According to the RecallRussellPearce site, the fireside was not sponsored by the LDS Church.

Daryl M. Williams, a commercial trial attorney working for Baird Williams & Greer LLP, had been invited to address a fireside organized by DeeDee Blase of the Hispanic-Republican advocacy group Somos Republicans. Williams, who describes himself politically as to the right of Genghis Khan, is one of those mercantile conservatives who believes conservatism is defined merely as the unconditional right to make as much money as possible by any lawful means with minimal regard for the impact upon sovereignty or community cohesion. Steeped in the history of immigration law, Williams takes a free-market approach to the issue of immigration. This view is discussed at length in an essay of his, entitled "Illegal Immigration", which mirrored Williams' fireside address. Williams also contended that the market should dictate the flow of immigrants onto American soil, explaining that our immigration laws are not criminal in the traditional sense that there is no intent to injure involved, or an "evil mind," which lawyers refer to as mens rea.

While the latter statement is true, it must be noted that even if there was no intent to injure, if an injury exists, it must be redressed in some fashion. This is a premise of our civil justice system, in which personal injury lawyers go after anyone even remotely associated with an injury to their clients. It also serves as the basis of our dram shop laws, in which bar owners can incur some responsibility for the misbehavior of their drunk patrons even after the patron has left the bar. Some people who have received DUIs have sued the bars where they got drunk.

But Williams' most controversial statement was when he attempted to link immigration politics with spiritual worthiness. "I don't believe you can be a good Mormon and hate illegal immigrants and want to deport them and break up families and leave children without their parents here," he told attendees. "I don't believe you can be a good Mormon and be a nativist." It is this extreme attitude which caused Williams' own stake president to distance himself from Williams; indeed, Williams basically told his stake president to go take a hike when the two discussed it. A one-hour video of Williams' talk is embedded below:



Daryl Williams is at odds with another prominent LDS member, State Senator Russell Pearce (R-Mesa). Williams claims Pearce's views do not reflect the official position of the LDS Church, and even presumes Pearce’s views to be inconsistent with the official position of his church. However, Williams conveniently ignores the fact that the Church itself has publicly stated that they do not expect their members who serve in politics to be microphones for the Church. Russell Pearce strikes me as a dedicated, determined patriot resolved to protect the sovereignty of Arizona and, by extension, the United States.

A group called Arizonans for Better Government has joined with another group, Citizens for a Better Arizona to launch a recall effort against Senator Pearce. They oppose the controversial SB1070, which they falsely claim promotes profiling of Hispanics, and want to substitute the Somos Republicans’ Twelve Point Immigration Plan. They need 7,756 valid signatures from registered voters from within Legislative District 18 by May 31st to trigger a recall election; as of April 12th, they've received two-thirds the necessary signatures.