Thread: Congress members hear impact of Alabama's immigration law

Congress members hear impact of Alabama's immigration law



Eleven members of the U.S. House of Representatives opposed to Alabama's new immigration law visited Birmingham on Monday to hear stories from an illegal immigrant, a local lawman, school officials, and others about how the law has hurt them or their groups.

The congress members later attended a rally that drew more than 2,000 people for the launch of a national campaign called "One Family, One Alabama." The campaign is aimed at repealing the state law -- commonly called HB56 for its bill number.

At the rally and hearing, people called Alabama's law the most severe state immigration law enacted so far and said it has instilled fear among legal immigrants as well as illegal ones across the state.

"I was serving as a Sunday school teacher at my church and when HB56 came into effect, my classrooms became empty," Alma Martinez of Russellville told the congressional delegation at the hearing at Birmingham City Hall. "The students were crying."

Martinez was among nine witnesses to testify at the congressional field hearing. She said it took her family years to achieve legal status after her father came to the U.S. 24 years ago.

This year she was accepted into medical school, Martinez said. "In good conscience I could not leave, and I put aside my dreams to stay with my community and fight back," she said.

Dreams diverted

Angie Baylon, an English as a second language teacher at Woodlawn and Huffman high schools, said that, after the law passed, a number of her students stopped talking about their dreams of going to college and now talk about the possibility they'll have to go back to the home country of their parents.

Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale testified that enforcing the law may drain financial resources from his department. "It threatens the coffers of Jefferson County, which is already in bankruptcy," he said.

Hale said the law prevents him from setting priorities for law enforcement, and it limits the ability of his deputies to engage with immigrants and minorities, who now may fear them.

"I believe that immigration is best handled by the federal government ... a uniform law that can be applied in all the states," Hale said.

Burdens cities

Birmingham Mayor William Bell said the state law "smacks" of apartheid and Jim Crow laws. It also places financial burdens on cities and could force police officers to cross the line into racial profiling, he said.

"This law is virtually impossible to enforce," Bell said.

A few other witnesses testified about the problems and fear the new law has caused in their daily lives.

Living in fear

Yesenia Jaimes, a 17-year-old Birmingham student who, along with her two sisters, was born in the United States, testified that her parents are not legally in the country. She said her family lives in a state of fear and stays at home as much as it can. "I send texts while in school just to make sure they are still there," she said.

Jaimes said that her parents have arranged for another family to take custody of the three girls if they are deported so the children can stay in the U.S.

Tweak or toss?

Several state legislators have agreed that the Alabama law needs to be tweaked. But one member of the congressional delegation who came to Birmingham on Monday said that's not enough.

"HB56 can't be amended," said Rep. Al Green, D-Texas. "It deserves to be placed on the trash heap of history," he said to applause in the packed Birmingham City Council chamber.

Among the other congressmen was Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., whose home state also passed a strict immigration law. He said Alabama's state law is going to hurt the economy and the social fabric of the state. "People are discovering that the rhetoric of hate is not making the country any better. It's making it worse," he said.

A broken system

In a press conference before the hearing, congress members, including Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., said they support national comprehensive immigration reform. "We acknowledge we have a broken immigration system," she said.

But the nation doesn't need the 50 states enacting their own immigration laws, Sewell said.

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force, led the field hearing. He said a group of Democratic congressmen is ready to pass comprehensive immigration reform but can't without the help of Republicans. The legislation would include tightening the borders and giving those already in the country a path to citizenship years down the road, Gutierrez said.

A new chapter

At Monday night's rally, congressmen, community leaders, and representatives from several civil rights groups met at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to launch the campaign.

The racially and ethnically diverse crowd was enthusiastic, occasionally breaking into the chant "Who is Alabama? We are Alabama" in English and Spanish. A call for applause from people who live in different cities in Alabama showed participation from across the state.

Comparisons between the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the current effort to overturn the immigration law were frequent among speakers from Birmingham.

"Now begins a new chapter in this war," Sewell said.

Roderick Royal, the Birmingham City Council president, also made references to the struggle for black equality. He vowed to help get rid of HB56 and called out the governor and two legislators who sponsored the bill.

"We will say 'No' to Robert Bentley," Royal said. "We will say 'No' to Scott Beason. We will say 'No' to (Micky) Hammond. And we will say 'No' to every reincarnated George Wallace in the state of Alabama."

Written by Kent Faulk and Eric Velasco.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/11/con ... act_o.html

Maybe we need to have an IQ test for everyone wanting to be in Congress to see if they know the Constitution, because some of them apparent don't??

Related:

Democrats to protest immigration crackdowns

usatoday.com
By Deborah Barfield Berry
Gannett Washington Bureau
Updated 6h 32m ago

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-255707.html