Justice Dept. dispute with Alabama over illegal-immigration law intensifies

By Jerry Markon, Published: November 17

The Obama administration’s legal campaign against restrictive state immigration laws has led to a bitter standoff in Alabama, where Justice Department attorneys are investigating possible civil rights violations.

The federal government already has sued Alabama over its new law, one of three such lawsuits against states that have cracked down on illegal immigration. Now, the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation to monitor potential discrimination as parts of the Alabama law take effect.

The standoff has been over Justice’s request for detailed enrollment data from Alabama schools, part of the probe into complaints that the law has prompted Hispanic families to pull their children from school. But Alabama’s attorney general balked and, in a series of blunt replies, questioned the federal government’s authority to demand the information. The state education department had advised school districts not to comply, but this week expressed a willingness to cooperate.

The disagreement , which could lead to a second Justice Department lawsuit, comes after the administration last year sued Arizona and, two weeks ago, filed suit against South Carolina. Government lawyers are also considering challenges to laws in Utah, Georgia and Indiana.

The lawsuits have emerged as a key part of the administration’s efforts on immigration and could serve as a counterpoint to growing criticism in the Hispanic activist community over President Obama’s stepped-up deportation program.

The Alabama law is considered the toughest of six new state immigration statutes, which include provisions giving police new authority to question legal status, among other things.

The dispute has stirred memories of Alabama’s segregationist past, with accusations that the law targets Hispanics. A civil rights group compared Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange to then-Gov. George C. Wallace (D) in 1963 as he resisted federal efforts to enroll black students at the University of Alabama.

“The intemperate language of [Strange’s] letter does remind us of George Wallace in the schoolhouse door,â€