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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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Monday, April 09, 2012

Rewritten Immigration Bill Better Than Current Law But Not By Enough

Birmingham News (Editorial): In one of our first editorials after the Legislature passed HB 56, Alabama's immigration law last June, this newspaper lawmakers had created a mean-spirited, overreaching mess, and that Alabama taxpayers and residents would pay a steep price. We believed Alabama didn't need the nation's toughest immigration law to deal with one of the nation's smaller immigrant populations. We argued early on that simply requiring E-Verify, the federal system that determines whether a person can be legally employed, would protect Alabama jobs for documented workers and Alabama citizens.

After several lawsuits, tons of bad publicity, embarrassing arrests of foreign autoplant workers and industrial recruiters' fretting over lost projects, we know now, of course, the Legislature had created a legal, economic development and humanitarian nightmare.

Late last week, Gov. Robert Bentley and legislative leaders acknowledged as much with HB 658, an extensive rewrite of HB 56. Their actions show the original law is flawed, even if their tough-talking words don't. We're encouraged by their action, even though we're disappointed their proposed revisions don't go far enough.

The revisions were the result of the governor and legislative leaders meeting with and trying to address the concerns of business, agriculture, construction, law-enforcement and religious groups that were strongly affected by HB 56.

While many of their concerns were addressed, the proposed changes fall short of what is needed to repair the state's national and international reputation in economic development and humanitarian circles.

Though the Business Council of Alabama said it would work actively to ensure passage of the revised law, BCA President and CEO William J. Canary did not come across as very enthusiastic: "These changes, while not perfect, are a much-needed step in the right direction and will allow businesses to clearly comply with both federal and state immigration law," he said in a prepared statement.

Canary is correct: The changes are a much-needed step in the right direction.

There are extensive, significant clarifications and simplifications of language and definitions in HB 658, but not so much in impact. The revision is 83 pages long, 10 pages longer than last year's HB 56. Too, the revisions address some of the federal court's largest concerns over many of the sections.

An example: A section of HB 56 -- since enjoined by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- required every public elementary and secondary school in the state to determine whether students and their parents were in the country legally. The revised section is much better. It would mandate only that the state Department of Education "attempt to ascertain" the financial impact undocumented students have on the school system and, each year by Jan. 1, compile a written report using "scholars, economists, or public research institutions" to complete the analysis.

That is a great improvement. Teachers should not have to be pseudo-immigration enforcement officers, and now they won't have to be.

Another significant improvement would give law-enforcement officers more discretion in whether they should check the immigration status of a person they have stopped. The existing law allowed an officer with "reasonable suspicion" to detain to verify immigration status upon a traffic stop. Now, the suspect would have to be ticketed or arrested before an immigration status check can be started.

However, the new bill also would allow the law officer's "reasonable suspicion" to extend beyond the driver to the passengers in a vehicle where the driver has been arrested or ticketed. That could put at risk of being detained or questioned passengers who have done nothing wrong other than ride in a car with someone who was speeding.

The type of identification that satisfies legal status would be expanded to include a valid military ID and an expired Alabama driver license, as long as the expiration was within six months.

Important, too, is that religious organizations, churches, pastors or church leaders would not have to verify the status of the people to whom they minister, serve in soup kitchens and food banks or provide other services.

Under HB 56, residents could sue officials who they believed did not enforce the immigration law, but with HB 658, residents would have to ask a local district attorney or the state attorney general to file the lawsuit. If no action was taken, the district attorney or attorney general would have to publicly state why within 90 days of receiving the complaint.

There are other proposed changes, but, sadly, House sponsor Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, and Senate sponsor Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, and legislative leaders can still tout HB 658 as the nation's toughest immigration law. They enthusiastically say the revisions make the immigration law stronger and more easy to enforce.

That tough-guy rhetoric is what economic recruiters in states without a law like Alabama's will bludgeon the state with whenever a prospect comes hunting. It's what UAB officials have to deal with when they're trying to lure a talented physician, researcher or faculty member to the nation's third most diverse university campus. And the law will deter undocumented people who are victims of crimes from contact with law-enforcement officers, making them even better targets for criminals.

The immigration law remains overreaching. It is still harsh. Alabama remains a "show your papers" state.

As we said after HB 56 passed, requiring E-Verify alone should be enough to keep undocumented workers from finding employment. That takes away their reason to want to stay in Alabama. Also, E-Verify has the U.S. Supreme Court's seal of approval, so it would not invite multiple court battles, as HB56 has.

HB 658 is, in several respects, better than HB 56 as written. But in what matters most, not enough.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT THE REVISION OF HB 56

Reaction to the introduction of HB 658, a rewrite of Alabama's overreaching immigration law, was quick and mixed:

"Some activist groups don't have a problem with illegal immigration and will only be happy if the law is repealed. That's not going to happen." -- Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, speaker of the Alabama House.

"The underlying premise of the Alabama immigration law remains the same: to purge the state of its undocumented immigrant population and use racial profiling and discrimination against citizens and legal immigrants to pursue its goal of mass expulsion." -- Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an immigration reform advocacy group.

"We've said all along that the Legislature would be open to clarifications pertaining to the administration of the law. I am committed to ensuring that any revisions do not weaken, or water down, the law." -- State Sen. Scott Beason one of the co-sponsors of the original immigration law.

"You can't 'tweak' your way out of the mess HB 56 has caused the state." -- Zayne Smith,coordinator of the One Family, One Alabama Campaign of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice.

"These revisions will improve the current law -- not weaken it." -- Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, R-Anniston.

"The Republican leadership's bill is a half-hearted response to the economic and humanitarian crisis that is gripping our state as a result of HB 56." -- Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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