Friday, September 25, 2015 04:18 PM
By: Breana Noble

Alabama has some of the strictest state immigration laws in the country. Nonetheless, 120,000 illegal immigrants live in the state making up 2.5 percent of Alabama’s population, according to the Center for American Progress. That makes it the 20th state in size of illegal alien population.

The center noted that illegals paid $130 million in taxes in 2010. Ultimately, the organization estimated with the loss of 10,000 illegal aliens, the state’s economy would lose $40 million.

The report was developed in the face of the passage of HB 56, a strict law that aimed at limiting and decreasing illegal immigration populations in the state.

HB 56 was passed in 2011, which banned landlords from renting to illegal immigrants, forced schools to review students’ immigration status, and made illegal providing undocumented people a car ride, according to MSNBC.

The goal of the law was to affect every part of an illegal immigrant’s life. With the inability to find housing and constant dread of being stopped by law enforcement, legislators hoped the rules would lead to “self-deportation” where immigrants would willingly return home, according to the American Immigration Council.

The law left unintended consequences as legal immigrants were arrested at traffic stops, churches feared they would have to stop ministries for helping illegal aliens, and children missed school, MSNBC reported.

Since its passage, the law has died. Parts of the legislation have either been repealed by the state itself or declared unconstitutional by the courts, BuzzFeed reported.

Nonetheless, the state still has strict laws on hiring. Through an E-Verify system, job recruiters are required to check the legal status of hires. Undocumented immigrants cannot be given a job, AL.com reported.

http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/.../25/id/693360/