Students learn of NAACP's task, immigration laws
August 12, 2011
By Adam Smith The News Courier

ATHENS — Though it’s not clear what impact the new immigration law will have on Alabamians when it goes into effect, a group of foreign students are helping investigate the issue.

On Thursday, 23 students from the Republic of Azerbaijan visited the NAACP Alabama State Conference offices in Athens to learn more about the immigration law and to hear how it will affect people of all races.

The students are visiting through a University of Alabama at Huntsville program called the Study of the United States Institute. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs.

The Institute is designed and conducted by the Office of International Programs & Services at UAH, in conjunction with program administrators at the International Research and Exchanges Board.

Julie Chamberlain, assistant director of the Office of International Programs & Services, said the program will last six weeks, with Athens visit just being part of the program. A seven-day tour will also take the Azeri students to two sites of great importance to the civil rights movement. The students will retrace the steps of civil rights marchers from the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma to a religious service at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery.

Learning the law

While at the NAACP office in Athens, the students heard the ins and outs of the immigration debate from Benard Simelton, president of the NAACP State Conference. He spoke about how the law may lead to increased incidences of racial profiling, which is why the NAACP is taking a stand against the legislation.

Following lunch at Shoney’s, the students had planned to call up NAACP officials from across the nation and ask their opinion on the law. The information they gathered will be used for a survey being developed by the NAACP.

Simelton explained to the students that the law could infringe on individuals’ rights who are American citizens. He also explained that if he wanted work done on his home, the law would make it his responsibility to verify the immigration status of the workers, or he could face legal repercussions.

“It will give law enforcement carte blanche to stop people at will,â€