Thread: How Will Alabama's Illegal Immigration Law Be Enforced?

How Will Alabama's Illegal Immigration Law Be Enforced?
waka.com
Written by Amanda McKenzie
Thursday, 18 August 2011 06:37 pm
(Video @ link)

Two weeks from now, Alabama's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration is set to take effect. But questions remain about how it will be enforced.

Now that Governor Robert Bentley has signed what he calls the toughest state law on illegal immigration, it is now in the hands of law enforcement agencies to carry it out.

But it is causing a lot of confusion about how to actually enforce the law.

The new state law on illegal immigration will allow police to demand proof of citizenship from people they stop and will make it illegal for anyone to knowingly transport an illegal immigrant. But how will the police actually go about enforcing this law? And will this law really bring big changes to Alabama?

"I don't really expect to see any real changes," Montgomery County Sheriff D.T. Marshall said. "It's just going to put another burden on law enforcement. Extra cost. Manpower needs we don't have."

Although officers have the right to question and detain a person without valid papers, it is up to the federal government to determine the legal status. So this state law relies on the cooperation of the federal government.

"Well I don't know how it's so tough," Marshall said. "If you do find an illegal immigrant in this town or the county, it's a Class C misdemeanor. One hundred dollar fine or something."

If the federal government does not respond within 24 hours after the arrest, a suspected illegal immigrant must be released.

How to police without profiling for illegal immigrants is unclear in this 72-page bill, but what is clear is how schools will serve the state by reporting the legal status of their students.

"At the end of the period, we report the number of students," said Tom Salter, Montgomery public schools spokesman."No names, but the number of students to the state Department of Education."

Then it is up to the state to decide what to do with that information. But the state won't know the names of the suspected illegal students, since that would be an invasion of their privacy.

"I learned a long time ago, it doesn't matter if you like a law or not," Marshall said. "It's a law and you're here to enforce the law."

Marshall said the law is missing details about how law enforcement should go about asking for papers and finding illegal immigrants. He said it will be up to the attorney general to come up with those answers.

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