September 7, 2011

Alabama's Immigration Law Temporarily Blocked by Court

On Monday, August 29, U.S. Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn agreed to delay enforcement of Alabama’s immigration law while she determined whether all or parts of the laws are constitutional. The order granting the preliminary injunction is to remain in place at least until September 29, and comes at the heals of challenges to the enforcement of the law by the U.S. Department of Justice, social-justice groups, and religious organizations across the country.

Scheduled to go into effect on September 1, Alabama’s immigration law, also knows HB 56 and Act 2011-535, has been touted as one of the strictest immigration law passed to date. The law provides for more expansive measures for checking an individual’s immigration status, including the requirement that the state check the immigration status of students in public schools. The law also makes it a crime to knowingly assist an illegal immigrant, and provides that a person stopped for a traffic violation can be detained by a police officer, if the police office has “reasonable suspicion” that the person is an undocumented immigrant. The officer must then make a reasonable attempt to determine the person’s citizenship and immigration status. As for business, the law requires them to use the federal E-Verify system to determine whether a potential employee is a legal resident, and continued failure to properly verify employment eligibility and hiring undocumented workers places the business at risk of loosing its license.