Hundreds rally against immigration bill
Posted: Mar 10, 2011 6:50 PM CST Updated: Mar 10, 2011 6:50 PM CST


Many immigrants rallied outside the Statehouse Thursday to protest house bill 56. It's one of several that would make it illegal to work without proper documentation.

Member of the Hispanic community stood together in Montgomery and asked lawmakers to reconsider the immigration bill. They fear that it will break up families.

Tuscaloosa High School Senior Nanah Zuniga is Alabama.
"This is home for us. I'm an American," she said.

But her parents aren't.

"If the law passes, they will take away my parents. And I have a brother and sister, and they'd be my responsibility," she said.

Zuniga and others held signs saying, "everyone is equal in God's eyes." But they know others don't see it that way.

"It keeps me up at night worrying about whether I will see my friends the next day," said John Skeen of Hayden who has Hispanic friends.

House bill 56 would require status checks for employees, allow police officers to inquire about that status, and make it unlawful to transport an illegal immigrant.

"A state solution is not the answer. This puts an undue and unfunded mandate on local enforcement to enforce federal immigration law, which is beyond their scope of duty," said Isabel Rubio of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama.

Senator Scott Beason, (R) Gardendale, is sponsoring a similar senate bill. He believes the state has to act because thousands of jobs and millions of dollars are lost to illegal immigrants.

"The federal government has failed in its job. It's job is to protect the states and protect the border. And it has failed at it for two, three decades. States have things it can do," said Beason.

But many fear taxpaying workers will become criminals.

"It would destroy our lives if this was passed," said Zuniga.

The bill was supposed to be discussed in the House. However, a filibuster on another bill prevented it from being introduced.

http://www.abc3340.com/Global/story.asp?S=14229966