The Birmingham News (Editorial): The determination of Alabama's top officials to continue a lengthy, expensive battle to save the state's immigration law is beginning to cause some sadly familiar head-shaking from around the nation, even as the courts continue dismantling the act.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last Friday blocked enforcement of two more provisions of the law. One provision requires immigrants to carry proof of lawful residency or face a fine; the other requires schools to collect immigration data from students.
That is good news. The bad news is the court allowed immigration status checks during traffic stops. That easily can lead to U.S. citizens or legal immigrants being held -- basically under arrest -- until their citizenship or immigration status is confirmed. And the provision barring illegal immigrants from entering into contracts or engaging in business transactions with the government also remains in force.
The Alabama law is in contrast to a series of laws passed in California that actually help protect immigrants' rights. The New York Times, which already has called the law "Alabama's shame," Monday said California's law "stands in sharp contrast to radical laws in Arizona and Alabama, which use police-state powers to choke off all opportunity for unauthorized immigrants and force them into hidden, impoverished lives."
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, meanwhile, told Birmingham business leaders that the law is doing great harm to Alabama's national image. "The recent immigration policy has cast a dark cloud over Alabama," Sewell said Monday at a Birmingham Business Alliance meeting.
Some of the remaining parts of Alabama's immigration law still overreach, especially in addressing a problem that is relatively small. It's estimated that only 4 percent of the state's population consists of immigrants and fewer than that are undocumented. Our law, however, creates hardships and inconveniences not only for unauthorized residents, but for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.
The law also leaves many of the state's Hispanic residents worried they will be subject to harassment from law-enforcement officials and others. In fact, there have already been such cases, including children targeted for immigration questionnaires in classrooms because they looked like they weren't from here, one school official said.
Alabama is a poor state, and the costs to fully defend this law for what could be years, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, will be high. There are many more important needs: in education, public health, public safety and corrections, to name a few.
But Gov. Robert Bentley and Attorney General Luther Strange are determined to carry on, though it is clear from the rulings of the U.S. District Court in Birmingham and the 11th U.S. Circuit panel in Atlanta that Alabama's law badly overreached.
The better course would be for the Legislature to reconsider and pass something more reasonable, but we won't hold our breath.
Reason did not prevail when the immigration law was enacted by the Alabama Legislature. How encouraging it would be if reason could prevail now, as the federal courts have clearly signaled that parts of Alabama's immigration are more than just troubling.
More than just troubling, too, is the very real hit on Alabama's reputation. When national newspapers are practically calling us a police state and a member of the state's congressional delegation talks to business leaders about the "dark cloud" cast by the law over the state, it's time to reconsider -- not become more stubborn.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last Friday blocked enforcement of two more provisions of the law. One provision requires immigrants to carry proof of lawful residency or face a fine; the other requires schools to collect immigration data from students.
That is good news. The bad news is the court allowed immigration status checks during traffic stops. That easily can lead to U.S. citizens or legal immigrants being held -- basically under arrest -- until their citizenship or immigration status is confirmed. And the provision barring illegal immigrants from entering into contracts or engaging in business transactions with the government also remains in force.
The Alabama law is in contrast to a series of laws passed in California that actually help protect immigrants' rights. The New York Times, which already has called the law "Alabama's shame," Monday said California's law "stands in sharp contrast to radical laws in Arizona and Alabama, which use police-state powers to choke off all opportunity for unauthorized immigrants and force them into hidden, impoverished lives."
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, meanwhile, told Birmingham business leaders that the law is doing great harm to Alabama's national image. "The recent immigration policy has cast a dark cloud over Alabama," Sewell said Monday at a Birmingham Business Alliance meeting.
Some of the remaining parts of Alabama's immigration law still overreach, especially in addressing a problem that is relatively small. It's estimated that only 4 percent of the state's population consists of immigrants and fewer than that are undocumented. Our law, however, creates hardships and inconveniences not only for unauthorized residents, but for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.
The law also leaves many of the state's Hispanic residents worried they will be subject to harassment from law-enforcement officials and others. In fact, there have already been such cases, including children targeted for immigration questionnaires in classrooms because they looked like they weren't from here, one school official said.
Alabama is a poor state, and the costs to fully defend this law for what could be years, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, will be high. There are many more important needs: in education, public health, public safety and corrections, to name a few.
But Gov. Robert Bentley and Attorney General Luther Strange are determined to carry on, though it is clear from the rulings of the U.S. District Court in Birmingham and the 11th U.S. Circuit panel in Atlanta that Alabama's law badly overreached.
The better course would be for the Legislature to reconsider and pass something more reasonable, but we won't hold our breath.
Reason did not prevail when the immigration law was enacted by the Alabama Legislature. How encouraging it would be if reason could prevail now, as the federal courts have clearly signaled that parts of Alabama's immigration are more than just troubling.
More than just troubling, too, is the very real hit on Alabama's reputation. When national newspapers are practically calling us a police state and a member of the state's congressional delegation talks to business leaders about the "dark cloud" cast by the law over the state, it's time to reconsider -- not become more stubborn.
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