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Beverly Hills, California, United States
Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Friday, March 23, 2012

Delegation in Birmingham to Look at Impact of Alabama's Immigration Law on Women and Children

The Birmingham News: We Belong Together, a delegation of women from 17 groups around the nation, was in Birmingham on Wednesday and today to look at the impact Alabama's immigration law has had on women and children.

Today the group held a 2-hour roundtable discussion at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Birmingham to discuss the impact of anti-immigrant attacks on families and the role women can play in the struggle for immigrant rights. About 80 people attended today's event.

The delegation spoke about the different stories they had heard on Wednesday from various illegal immigrant women living in Alabama.

Among the seven stories the group said they heard was a woman with a disabled child who fears she will be separated from her son as she faces the threat of deportation each day.

One of those stories came from a 14-year-old middle school student from Jefferson County, whose name was given only as Nancy because she is an illegal immigrant. She told the crowd today that her mother, step-father, and 3-year-old sister moved back to Mexico because of the fear of being arrested soon after HB56 became law. She said she decided to stay in Alabama with her uncle so she could continue school.

"I dream of being the first one in my family to graduate college and have a career," Nancy said. "I want to be a doctor."

Nancy said her mother is trying to get a visa to return legally to the United States. "I don't want to give up all my dreams. I want HB56 repealed," she said.

Delegation members, which represent various civil rights', womens', and child advocacy groups around the nation, said that with the trip to Alabama they hope to mobilize the effort to repeal Alabama's law.

"What has struck me is the way in which HB 56 has impacted the daily lives of immigrant families and the extent to which they live in fear everyday -- fear of deportation both from the mother's perspective but also from the perspective of children," said Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a Washington D.C.-based policy, communications and legal action group focused on racial justice. "The way it is ripping families apart is incredible."

Parts of that law have already been stayed by federal courts as the issues are considered by appeals courts. Alabama legislators also may consider changes to the law.

Those who oppose Alabama's immigration law say it is the most restrictive of the states' laws enacted in the past few years to address illegal immigrants, touching on almost every aspect of immigrants lives.

Many of those who support Alabama's and other states' laws regulating immigration say they are needed because the federal government is not doing its job in enforcing existing illegal immigration.

We Belong Together delegations have also gone into Arizona and Georgia, which also have enacted state immigration laws.

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