Thread: APNewsBreak: Honda worker cited under Alabama law

APNewsBreak: Honda worker cited under Alabama law

ktul.com
By JAY REEVES
Associated Press
Posted: Nov 30, 2011 3:26 PM EST
Updated: Nov 30, 2011 3:36 PM EST

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) - A second foreign worker employed by Alabama's automobile industry has been charged under the state's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Officials said Wednesday that a Japanese employee on temporary assignment at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama in Talladega County was ticketed under the law. The company says the man is working with authorities to resolve the matter.

It's not clear where the worker was stopped. But a person with knowledge of the case says he was ticketed at a routine police roadblock for not having an Alabama driver's license, even though he had a valid Japanese passport and an international driver's license.

The person wasn't authorized to release the information and asked not to be identified.

A Mercedes-Benz manager was previously arrested in Tuscaloosa under the law for not having a driver's license. The charge was dismissed after the man provided authorities with identification.

http://www.ktul.com/story/16156902/apne ... er-ala-law

Charge dismissed against Honda employee arrested under Alabama immigration law

al.com
By Jeremy Gray
The Birmingham News
Thursday, December 01, 2011, 7:13 PM

LEEDS, Alabama -- An attorney for a Japanese man employed by Honda who was arrested under Alabama's immigration law faxed a Leeds city judge the man's valid driver's license this evening, and the charge was dismissed.

Leeds City Magistrate Laura Roberts identified the employee as Ichiro Yada.

Leeds Mayor Eric Patterson stood by the officer's decision to arrest the Honda employee on Monday night during a license checkpoint on U.S. 78 in Leeds.

Patterson said Yada was ticketed for driving without a valid license and was arrested for being in violation of a section of Alabama's immigration law that requires everyone to have a valid license while driving.

City officials said he was released on a signature bond at the checkpoint and was not taken to jail. There was a magistrate at the checkpoint.

The immigration law amended another law on driving without a license to require officers to arrest a driver if police can't verify that the driver has been issued a valid license.

"The police are instructed to follow the law as written," Patterson said. "People are trying to use this to make the law look bad. That's not our problem. We're going to enforce the laws of state of Alabama."

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/12/cha ... honda.html