Tense times for undocumented immigrants in Alabama

September 1, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - Opponents of the new immigration law are hitting the streets, sticking their necks out, and hoping not to be forced out.

Nick Perez was part of vigil outside the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse in Birmingham Wednesday night. Perez was born in Mexico, but he's lived in Alabama since the age of 3. It's the only home he knows and he's afraid he'll have to leave.

"I've had to stay up nights over summer vacation wondering where am I going to be in 3 months?" said Perez.

He's not alone.

"There are a lot of people who are scared, who are terrified, myself personally in my own neighborhood I see various U-Haul trailers, relatives from other states coming here to get their relatives out of here because a lot of people are scared. And a lot of people, some of my friends have already left actually," said Perez.

On the other side of the story, the Senate sponsor of H.B. 56 says plenty of Alabama voters support the state's new immigration law even though you may not see them out demonstrating.

"It's really about a jobs issue. If you look at some of the counties that are most heavily impacted by the number of illegal aliens, they've actually seen a decrease in their unemployment rate over the past couple of months while most of the state's seen an increase. And I really think it's unfortunate that folks have forgotten about the Alabamians that have been negatively affected by the ever increasing number of illegal aliens," said Alabama Senator Scott Beason, R-Gardendale. “They should make their wishes known of course, but most people in Alabama are… you know they've elected the people they want to elect. They're working their jobs. They're doing the things they need to do. They're taking care of their families. They don't have time to get into protesting and marching and all that kind of stuff. They're just hoping that their elected officials like myself, that told them what we wanted to do if we were reelected and now we have done that, they just hope that we continue to take the stand that we promised them when we ran for office."

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