It is now the toughest immigration law in the nation. The State of Alabama has taken a page from Arizona, bypassing them with a controversial new law aimed at illegal immigrants.
Gov. Robert Bentley signed the tough new law into existence last Thursday, which will require public schools to check students’ immigration status, or make it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride. Police were also given free reign to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant, even if they were stopped for some other reason, while employers are now required to use a federal system called E-Verify to determine if new workers are in the country legally.
Gov. Bentley called the new law the nation’s toughest, and the American Civil Liberties Union and the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center both agreed with him, with both groups intent on putting up a fight to challenge it.
Mary Bauer, who is the legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said she expects a lawsuit to be filed before the provisions of the law take effect. “It is clearly unconstitutional. It’s mean-spirited, racist and we think a court will enjoin it,” Bauer said.
Without a court order to stop it, the law will take effect September 1st.
