Thread: Alabama's Tough New Immigration Law Can Withstand Legal Chal

Alabama's Tough New Immigration Law Can Withstand Legal Challenges, Experts Say


Published June 11, 2011

810 comments

Alabama's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants will likely survive legal challenges from advocacy groups that say it is unconstitutional and racist, analysts told Fox News.

The law, which takes effect Sept. 1, empowers police to arrest people suspected of being an illegal immigrant if they are stopped for another reason and requires businesses and schools to verify whether workers and students are in the country lawfully. It also makes it a crime to knowingly transport or shelter illegal immigrants.

As soon as Republican Gov. Robert Bentley signed the bill into law Thursday, the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center were vowing to defeat it in court.

"It is clearly unconstitutional. It's mean-spirited, racist, and we think a court will enjoin it," said Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"By signing this bill into law, Gov. Bentley has codified official discrimination in the state of Alabama," said Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "We will take action to keep this law from going into effect to ensure that the civil rights and liberties of all Alabamans are protected."

Legal experts told Fox News that they expect the case to head to the Supreme Court where they believe the state will prevail.

"I think the states have the right to do this," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. "I think it will be successful."

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates strict immigration laws, says the one in Alabama is fair.

"It does not go too far," he said. "The ACLU will object to anything that involves immigration enforcement."

"There are a lot of different pieces to it but I think probably the most important part is completely fair and very neutral and very effective, is requiring all businesses when they hire someone to check that info, the Social Security number against the federal government online E-verify system. Common sense. It works well."

There are an estimated 120,000 illegal immigrants in Alabama, a nearly fivefold increase from a decade ago, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Alabama isn't the only Southern state cracking down on illegal immigrants. Georgia passed a similar measure a few weeks ago and that law goes into effect July 1. Civil liberties groups have already sued that state in an attempt to block the law.

The Alabama law was modeled on Arizona's. A federal judge blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's law last year after the Justice Department sued. The case appears headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. A less restrictive law in Utah also was blocked after a lawsuit was filed.

"The states are sick and tired of the federal government basically doing nothing to protect the individual citizens from what is a serious problem," Sekulow said.

Krikorian said these laws send a clear message to illegal immigrants.

"The point is to make it as difficult as possible for an illegal alien to put down roots, to make it hard to live a normal life," he said, explaining that not being able to get a job or an apartment makes it less appealing to be an illegal alien.

"So if you are thinking of going there, you think twice, and if you are illegal already, you think seriously about packing up and leaving," he said.

www.foxnews.com

Why hasn't Obama said anything about this Alabama law, he was on Arizona the next day! I hope it's because all hell will break loose if he tries suing another state in America!

Alabama Slams Door on Illegal Immigration

Byan McGinnis
Sat Jun 11, 2:42 pm ET

With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Robert Bentley made Alabama the toughest state on illegal immigrants. The new law requires schools, landlords and employers to participate in identifying people who illegally live and work in the state.

Bentley, a first-term Republican, campaigned on a platform of tough immigration laws and, with the help of State Sen. Scott Beason, was able to sign into law the toughest anti-illegals bill in the nation -- surpassing even the requirements of Arizona's restrictive law.

The measure has not gone without drawing the ire of the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center who told Associated Press that they plan to mount a court challenge to overturn the law.

The law will require schools to identify citizenship of all students and make it a crime for a landlord to knowingly rent to an illegal immigrant. In theory, both sound like good ideas to help identify the illegal aliens that live in the U.S. However, it is not the role of the school to determine legitimate citizenship or residency and the law allows the school to report their findings for only statistical purposes. The illegal child would still be admitted to the school

Alabama state officials estimate more than 122,000 illegal immigrants are living and working in the state. Really? If state officials have the ability to accurately project that number -- and it's a real number -- then why aren't state and federal authorities rounding up these illegals and deporting them? Why are more state resources being allocated to a task that fundamentally should be a responsibility -- indeed an obligation -- of the federal government?

ACLU attorney Jared Shepherd told the Associated Press that immigrant parents may not send their child to school if they know immigration status will be checked as they may be concerned about deportation. Well, Jared Shepherd: they should be deported! They are illegally living in this country.

I don't totally agree with the Alabama law, but I understand and support its intent. Organizations like the ACLU need to understand that while our nation was founded by immigrants, we cannot continue to allow hundreds of thousands of illegal ones to live among us.

Good job Alabama on setting a standard and taking action to correct a problem. Let's hope the courts uphold the law and that the state legislature can modify it as needed to contain the problem without trampling on American citizen's rights.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110611/us_ ... igration_1