Advocacy Grouops Want Alabama AG Luther Strange to Advise Police After Arizona Immigration Decision

THE HUNTSVILLE TIMES 

By Brian Lawson

July 2, 2012

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/07/immigration_rights_groups_want.html

A coalition of civil rights group is sending a letter today to Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange asking him to provide guidance to law enforcement on how to implement the state's immigration law.

The letter points to last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision on Arizona's immigration law that left in place the requirement that police perform immigration status checks during traffic stops and arrests.

A similar provision is already in effect in Alabama.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center are asking Strange to give police guidelines to ensure the law is enforced consistent with the Supreme Court decision. The letter also asks the attorney general to direct law enforcement to immediately begin collecting data on stops and arrests related to immigration status checks.

Mary Bauer, legal director of the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center said they've received numerous calls over the past several months from people who said they were detained for a prolonged period or racially profiled by police attempting to enforce the status checks law in Alabama.

The Supreme Court's 5-3 decision struck down much of Arizona's immigration. It also cautioned against prolonged detention during status checks and warned of possible constitutional problems in the way the law could be enforced.

"State government officials are officially on notice about the constitutional problems with state laws requiring law enforcement to determine immigration status," said Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project.

In the opinion, the court said the Arizona's law enforcement status checks could be handled in a constitutional manner and it sent the case back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for further review.

But the opinion also said prolonged detentions during status checks could be unconstitutional.

"It is not clear at this stage and on this record that the (Arizona status checks), in practice, will require state officers to delay the release of detainees or no reason other than to verify their immigration status," the opinion said. "This would raise constitutional concerns. And it would disrupt the federal framework to put state officers in the position of holding aliens in custody for possible unlawful presence without federal direction and supervision."

The groups involved in the conference call this morning are among the parties suing Alabama to block the state's immigration law. The Justice Department has also sued to block the law. Alabama and the plaintiffs have until July 6 to brief the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on how the Supreme Court's decision and some changes to Alabama's immigration law affect the lawsuits.