Mandatory Credit: Photo by JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (10766225i) US passports in Washington, DC, USA, 04 September 2020.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s congressional delegation has petitioned for the state to get its own passport processing center, but will it actually happen?
One of the petition signers Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) Joined KSL at Night hosts Mara Carabello and Taylor Morgan to discuss the potential of a passport processing center in the Beehive State.
Beginning the discussion, Carabello says Utah residents are a “traveling crew.” She notes the large number of missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that travel out of Utah.
“But, I think a lot of times once you leave the country, you continue to leave or want to leave the country (again),” she says. “So, we don’t have an official passport office interestingly.”
Moore agrees with this.
“You make the most significant point with, like, just the culture of Utah,” he says. “We (Utahns) love to travel. We’ve got a lot of international experience. We’re a hub city, especially for Delta. And there’s a strong interest and this is a huge pain point for people. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I got into this role where I can actually serve my constituents in this regard.”
Along with this, the representative calls this petition the first of several steps to Utah getting its own passport processing center.
“You have to be able to establish the need (for a passport processing center),” he says. “Which will be a part of providing whatever data we can to show not only … the volume that we have, but, you know, the backlog and the trouble that we’re going through.”
He goes on to say the closest passport processing center is located in Denver, Colorado and this just isn’t close enough.
“We’re a major place now … This this isn’t the same Salt Lake Wasatch Front area that it was 30 years ago,” Moore says. “We just need to modernize and show the case for it.”
Listen to the full segment below.
KSL at Night can be heard most weekdays from 7 to 9 p.m.