Thread: AL: Bentley reassures foreign industries in wake of immigrat

Bentley reassures foreign industries in wake of immigration law

By PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press


Published: Monday, December 5, 2011 at 6:01 a.m.

MONTGOMERY — Alabama’s governor on Monday he is worried the state’s tough crackdown on illegal immigration law could hurt the recruitment of foreign industries, so he’s reaching out to foreign executives to let them know that the state welcomes them.

“We are not anti-foreign companies. We are very pro-foreign companies,” Bentley told reporters at the Capitol.

The Republican governor and other supporters of the law have described it as the nation’s toughest. Some parts of it were put on hold by the federal courts, but major provisions took effect in late September, including allowing police to detain motorists who can’t produce a valid driver’s license. Since then, two foreign workers with the Mercedes-Benz and Honda auto assembly plants in Alabama have run into problems.

On Nov. 16, a German manager with Mercedes-Benz was arrested under the law in Tuscaloosa for not having a driver’s license with him while driving a rental car. The charge was dismissed after the man provided documents in municipal court. Bentley said he learned about the arrest in a call from someone with Mercedes, but he did not say whom.

Last week, a Honda employee from Japan was detained under the law in Leeds. Police at a roadblock found him carrying an international driver’s license and passport, but not an Alabama license or Japanese license as required by the law. Leeds police said they released the man under the immigration law at a magistrate’s recommendation, and a city judge dismissed a charge of driving without a license.

Before the auto workers’ problems, in early November, Bentley told a Birmingham business audience that the law had not hurt Alabama’s image with industrial prospects.

But Bentley now says the two arrests involving foreign auto workers “theoretically” could hurt Alabama’s ability to recruit foreign industries.

“Obviously people worry about that. I worry about that. I want our image to be very positive because we are open for business in Alabama,” he said.

Bentley’s job as governor includes leading industrial recruitment efforts, and he said he is calling foreign executives as reassurance about the law. Bentley said he has talked with officials at companies including Mercedes and Golden Dragon, a Chinese company that has announced — but not yet built — a copper tubing plant in Thomasville. The governor said he’s assured them that Alabama will work through any problems with the immigration law.

“People need to just calm down. Everything is going to be OK,” he said.

An opponent of the law, Democratic state Sen. Hank Sanders of Selma, on Monday sent the governor a letter urging him to support a repeal of the law when the next legislative session starts Feb. 7. Sanders said the law has resurrected ugly images from the civil rights era 50 years ago and “has become a worldwide symbol of what’s wrong with Alabama.”

Bentley on Monday said he will work with the Legislature to make the law simpler and easier to understand. But he said, “It will not be repealed. If you live and work in this state, you must be legal.”

Two Republican legislative leaders, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh of Anniston and House Speaker Mike Hubbard of Auburn, issued a joint statement saying the Legislature will consider minor changes. But they said, “We will not repeal or weaken the law, acquiescing to liberal elites’ and news media’s efforts to intimidate and shame Alabama.”

Bentley, who served in the Legislature for eight years, said any complex law passed by the Legislature usually requires some modification and clarification once officials start implementing it, and the immigration law is no exception. He said he is working with the Legislature and the attorney general on that, as well as looking for administrative solutions.

He cited a new state computer program that allows county tag officials to verify the authenticity of a driver’s license when a motorist seeks to renew it. There’s also a new online program that lets people sign up to apply for farm jobs that were abandoned by foreign workers once the law took effect.

Bentley said he’s also working on getting other countries to agree to a reciprocal agreement such as the one Germany and Alabama have. A German worker with a valid driver’s license from that country can get an Alabama license and vice versa.

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/...WIRE/111209891

GOV OF ALabama
you say your worry about hurt the industries . well every country
should carry a Dr License . no Alabama is doing the right thing
what about gov hurting the American . who
made the car sure In hell not in America ?
every thing we buy it made In other country's?
from what I seen every One of you Gov are all for the illegaL
immigrant & the hell with us .
& you say People need to calm down every thing going to be ok
Are you working ? yes I think you are well Im not
this will not be ok until some on get obama the hell out of the wh
the American want some one who be on our side . not the other
Country
we have every Other country . they do what they want
say what they want
. they dont like Our flag
they don't like Our prayer /
they don't like our song
they don't like any thing about our way's
the gov should Not buy any thing from any country . let the American do it
why it cheap ?
& when it come to our country . how much do we pay

stop feel sorry for all every Country . no other Country feel
sorry for us
wake the hell up
you don't have a Dr License get one or don't dr
all Our sign are In English ?
NO amnestyor Dream
Hello wake the hell up

added to the Homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article6827.html

Originally Posted by southBronx

GOV OF ALabama
you say your worry about hurt the industries . well every country
should carry a Dr License . no Alabama is doing the right thing
what about gov hurting the American . who
made the car sure In hell not in America ?
every thing we buy it made In other country's?
from what I seen every One of you Gov are all for the illegaL
immigrant & the hell with us .
& you say People need to calm down every thing going to be ok
Are you working ? yes I think you are well Im not
this will not be ok until some on get obama the hell out of the wh
the American want some one who be on our side . not the other
Country
we have every Other country . they do what they want
say what they want
. they dont like Our flag
they don't like Our prayer /
they don't like our song
they don't like any thing about our way's
the gov should Not buy any thing from any country . let the American do it
why it cheap ?
& when it come to our country . how much do we pay

stop feel sorry for all every Country . no other Country feel
sorry for us
wake the hell up
you don't have a Dr License get one or don't dr
all Our sign are In English ?
NO amnestyor Dream
Hello wake the hell up

I am awake and intend to do something about it.