Birmingham News: A crowd of several hundred people rallied in front of the State House for about an hour today to ask legislators to repeal the state's immigration law, known as House Bill 56 when it passed the Legislature last year.
''We came to fight injustice,'' said the Rev. Matt Lacey, director of mission and advocacy of the North Alabama conference of the United Methodist Church, who delivered the opening prayer.
Lacey before his prayer said he wanted the law repealed because, ''I think it goes against the Gospel's message of hospitality to the stranger.''
Before the program started, many people in the crowd chanted, in Spanish and sometimes in English, ''We're Latinos, not criminals,'' ''No more H.B. 56'', and ''One Family, One Alabama.''
Sharon Richards, president of the metro Montgomery branch of the NAACP, told the crowd, ''HB 56 has been and continues to be an economic disaster for Alabama.''
She mentioned a recent report by Samuel Addy, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, that estimated the immigration law could reduce the state gross domestic product by $2.3 billion to $10.8 billion, or from 1.3 to 6.2 percent. His report assumed the law caused or will cause 40,000 to 80,000 unauthorized immigration workers to leave the state, no longer earning or spending income in Alabama.
Wayne Kimberly, a contractor in Auburn, warned the crowd that the law, if it continues in effect, will drive skilled and hard-working Hispanic workers out of the construction industry and lead to higher construction and repair costs.
Shandi Olivares of Fort Payne, an Alabama native, told the crowd that she's afraid her undocumented husband, a construction worker, will be deported or arrested, leaving her and their children without an income-earner in the family.
"How would I support my children? Where would I go?" she asked after her speech.
State Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, a supporter of the immigration law, said it was needed because a ''huge flood of illegal immigrants'' was taking jobs from Alabamians.
He predicted legislators this year would make some clarifications to the law, but not repeal it. ''We're not going backwards on this issue,'' Ball said.
Parts of the immigration law have been put on hold while courts decide whether they're constitutional. The law as written makes it a state crime, punishable by a $100 fine and 30 days in jail, for a person to even be in Alabama without valid federal alien registration or other proof of legal presence in the United States.
The law as written, among many other provisions, also:
--- Makes it a crime punishable by a $500 fine for an ''unauthorized alien'' to knowingly apply for work.
--- Makes it a crime punishable by as much as a year in jail for a person who knew or recklessly disregarded that an immigrant was in the United States illegally to conceal, harbor or shield the immigrant from detection, transport the immigrant ''in furtherance of the unlawful presence of the alien,'' or rent a dwelling unit to the immigrant.
''We came to fight injustice,'' said the Rev. Matt Lacey, director of mission and advocacy of the North Alabama conference of the United Methodist Church, who delivered the opening prayer.
Lacey before his prayer said he wanted the law repealed because, ''I think it goes against the Gospel's message of hospitality to the stranger.''
Before the program started, many people in the crowd chanted, in Spanish and sometimes in English, ''We're Latinos, not criminals,'' ''No more H.B. 56'', and ''One Family, One Alabama.''
Sharon Richards, president of the metro Montgomery branch of the NAACP, told the crowd, ''HB 56 has been and continues to be an economic disaster for Alabama.''
She mentioned a recent report by Samuel Addy, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, that estimated the immigration law could reduce the state gross domestic product by $2.3 billion to $10.8 billion, or from 1.3 to 6.2 percent. His report assumed the law caused or will cause 40,000 to 80,000 unauthorized immigration workers to leave the state, no longer earning or spending income in Alabama.
Wayne Kimberly, a contractor in Auburn, warned the crowd that the law, if it continues in effect, will drive skilled and hard-working Hispanic workers out of the construction industry and lead to higher construction and repair costs.
Shandi Olivares of Fort Payne, an Alabama native, told the crowd that she's afraid her undocumented husband, a construction worker, will be deported or arrested, leaving her and their children without an income-earner in the family.
"How would I support my children? Where would I go?" she asked after her speech.
State Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, a supporter of the immigration law, said it was needed because a ''huge flood of illegal immigrants'' was taking jobs from Alabamians.
He predicted legislators this year would make some clarifications to the law, but not repeal it. ''We're not going backwards on this issue,'' Ball said.
Parts of the immigration law have been put on hold while courts decide whether they're constitutional. The law as written makes it a state crime, punishable by a $100 fine and 30 days in jail, for a person to even be in Alabama without valid federal alien registration or other proof of legal presence in the United States.
The law as written, among many other provisions, also:
--- Makes it a crime punishable by a $500 fine for an ''unauthorized alien'' to knowingly apply for work.
--- Makes it a crime punishable by as much as a year in jail for a person who knew or recklessly disregarded that an immigrant was in the United States illegally to conceal, harbor or shield the immigrant from detection, transport the immigrant ''in furtherance of the unlawful presence of the alien,'' or rent a dwelling unit to the immigrant.
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