Alabama state Sen. Scott Beason urges crowd to stand up for state's immigration law

The Birmingham News
By David White --
Updated: Tuesday, February 07, 2012, 4:07 PM

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Alabama state Sen. Scott Beason tells a Montgomery rally lawmakers won't but only fine-tune state's immigration law.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- State Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, today urged about 100 people attending a rally outside the State House to tell their legislators to stand up for Alabama's immigration law, which Beason helped push through the Legislature last year.


''It's because of people like you that we were able to pass an anti-illegal immigration law in the state of Alabama, one of the best ones in the country,'' Beason said at the rally, which was organized by Tea Party members.


''It is doing what it is supposed to do. It is putting Alabamians back to work, it is putting Alabamians first,'' Beason said.
He predicted legislators would make some ''small tweaks'' to adjust the law, ''just to make it so some of our bureaucrats clearly know what they're supposed to be doing.''


But Beason predicted the Legislature would not repeal or weaken the immigration law.


''When we talk about clarifying, we're actually going to end up making the thing stronger and better for the people of this state, and if the Obama Justice Department doesn't like it, frankly, they can lump it,'' Beason said, to cheers from the crowd.


Beason spoke about 45 minutes before legislators were scheduled to start, at noon, this year's regular session of the Legislature, which could run through May 21.


Related topics: Alabama legislature 2012, immigration law, Scott Beason

Alabama state Sen. Scott Beason urges crowd to stand up for state's immigration law | al.com