After the commotion surrounding the passage of Arizona’s SB-1070 and the success by grassroots and civil rights organizations to enjoin the legislation from taking its full effect, we are still seeing the spread of “SB-1070”-type legislation all over the country. Point in case: Alabama. A couple days ago Alabama passed, what an NYT editorial called: “The Nation’s Cruelest Immigration Law.”
It is a sweeping attempt to terrorize undocumented immigrants in every aspect of their lives, and to make potential criminals of anyone who may work or live with them or show them kindness.
It effectively makes it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant in Alabama, by criminalizing working, renting a home and failing to comply with federal registration laws that are largely obsolete. It nullifies any contracts when one party is an undocumented immigrant. It requires the police to check the papers of people they suspect to be here illegally.
The new regime does not spare American citizens. Businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants will lose their licenses. Public school officials will be required to determine students’ immigration status and report back to the state. Anyone knowingly “concealing, harboring or shielding” an illegal immigrant could be charged with a crime, say for renting someone an apartment or driving her to church or the doctor.
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These arguments have been made before, in opposition to similar, if less sweeping, laws passed in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. What is remarkable in Alabama is the separate lawsuit by the four church leaders, who say the law violates their religious freedoms to perform acts of charity without regard to the immigration status of those they minister to or help.
For the full article go to NYTimes. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/opinion/the-nations-cruelest-immigration-law.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss. Published Aug. 28, 2011.
While I understand that the immigration issue is practically a never-ending debate, ultimately I thought this rage against immigrants would eventually die down or manifests itself in different ways. For the record, debate would be an inaccurate term to describe such discussions because it would insinuate that reason-based discussion takes place…instead the immigration topic usually involves the use of fear tactics, racial slurs, reliance on incomplete studies, etc. Either way, the fact that Alabama’s bill is worst than Arizona’s gives me the chills.
Luckily, it was announced that the bill was enjoined by a federal judge giving opponents to the bill an opportunity to argue why the bill as a whole, or parts of the bill, are unconstitutional. This is not a clear victory for immigrants, their families and our communities at-large, it is only a wake-up call for the rest of the nation that we need to mobilize y pronto!
A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a tough immigration law in Alabama on Monday.
Opponents of the measure — including state church leaders, the U.S. Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union– had asked U.S. Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn to stop the law, which was scheduled to go into effect Thursday.
State officials argue the law would help Alabama and not violate civil rights.
In her two-page order, the judge said there was not enough time before Thursday to address all the legal arguments from various parties over the law’s constitutionality. “It is hereby ordered that Act 2011-535 is temporarily enjoined, and may not be executed or enforced,” wrote Blackburn.
The Alabama law requires that police “attempt to determine the immigration status of a person who they suspect is an unauthorized alien of this country,” according to an Alabama House of Representatives fact sheet. That provision is similar to other laws aiming to crack down on illegal immigration passed by other state legislatures over the past year.
But the Alabama law also includes more expansive measures, including requiring the state to check immigration status of students in public schools.
Blackburn made clear her order does not reflect on the merits of either side’s legal arguments. She ordered both the state and the law’s opponents to file further legal briefs in the case, and said her injunction will remain in place at least until September 29. Further appeals to higher federal courts could prevent the law from going into effect for months, even years.
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Bentley signed the law in June.
“Gov. Bentley campaigned on the need for a strong immigration bill,” the governor’s spokeswoman, Rebekah Mason, said last month.
Republican Alabama state Rep. John Merrill told CNN in June that the legislation would be “good for Alabama” because it would reduce illegal immigration to the state and “provide equal opportunities for all people who want to come to Alabama legally.”
ACLU attorney Andre Segura noted that the length of Wednesday’s hearing showed the complexity of Alabama’s law compared with other state measures.
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Alabama’s law is considered the strictest in the nation. Key portions of Arizona’s immigration reform law have also been blocked while a federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court consider various challenges.
The Alabama case is Hispanic Interest Coalition v. Alabama (cv-2484).
For full article go to: CNN http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/29/alabama.immigration.law/ Published Aug. 29, 2011.
