Judge allows most meaningful, effective parts of law to be enforced
MONTGOMERY – Legislative leaders are reacting favorably to a federal judge’s ruling that most portions of Alabama’s recently-enacted crackdown on illegal immigration will go into effect despite legal challenges from the U.S. Department of Justice and special interest groups.
Most of the substantial sections were allowed to go into effect, including those that:
- Make it a crime to be an illegal, undocumented alien in Alabama
- Prohibit state and local agencies from contracting or doing business with illegal aliens
- Require police to determine the status of suspected illegal immigrants
- Require businesses to confirm the legal status of their workers using the federal “E-Verify” system
Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) called the ruling a “significant win” in the effort to curb Alabama’s illegal immigration problem.
“Our goal has always been to make sure Alabama jobs and taxpayer-funded resources are going to legal Alabama residents and Judge Blackburn’s ruling is a significant win for this cause.
“While enforcement of other parts of the law were delayed pending more definitive action by the courts, the intent of the law still stands, a large majority of this law remains intact and Alabama is finally able to address this issue that has been ignored by the federal government for too long.”
House Speaker Mike Hubbard said the ruling is good news because Alabama can now see to it that these strict provisions are enforced.
“We’re very pleased to see that 85 percent of our law will go into effect and we can finally begin dealing with the problem of illegal immigration in Alabama. The E-Verify provision is among the most meaningful and effective parts of this law. If we’re going to stop the flow of thousands of illegal immigrants into Alabama, we must shut off the magnet that is drawing them here.
“We remain confident our law will ultimately be upheld as constitutional.”
