Friday, June 10, 2011

State Immigration Enforcement Bills Useless, Costly And Unable To Be Legally Implemented In The U.S.

Alabama, another state to pass an immigration enforcement bill.

By H. Nelson Goodson
June 10, 2011

Montgomery, Alabama - On Thursday, Republican Governor Robert Bentley signed into law a state immigration enforcement law targeting 120,000 undocumented immigrants in Alabama. The bill allows state and local law enforcement officers to determine the legal status and arrest suspected undocumented immigrants during traffic stops or civil violations. The bill allows public school officials to determine the legal status of students attending school districts as a data collection, makes it unlawful for people to knowingly give a ride to undocumented immigrants or cause traffic jams while picking illegal laborers up and requires businesses to verify the legal status of employees that they hire using the federal system E-verify. The law takes affect on September 1.
The 2010 U.S. Census reported, that 186,000 Hispanics reside in Alabama, a 3.9 growth within a decade.
Immigrant rights groups, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Southern Poverty Law Center agreed that the Alabama immigration enforcement law will lead to racial profiling by law enforcement, employers and landlords. The Alabama law is deemed unconstitutional because it's pre-empted by federal law. Only the federal government can regulate and enforce immigration laws.
Most of the provisions in the Alabama immigration enforcement law will most likely be blocked from taking effect once it is legally challenged in federal court as Arizona's SB 1070 is facing today. Arizona's own immigration enforcement law has been stalled, since it was passed almost a year ago. A federal judge blocked most of its provisions making SB 1070 useless.
It has cost Arizona more than $250 million to attempt to implement it and to legally defend. National and state boycotts have kept millions of dollars and tourists from the state creating an economic crisis and adding to the $33 billion dollar state deficit Arizona is currently facing.
Alabama is expected to spent just as much in a law that will most likely never be fully implemented. Georgia is facing the same fate and Utah's law, which actually allows undocumented immigrants to seek permits to work and reside in the state along with their families has been also blocked in a federal court challenge.
Wisconsin is currently trying to pass an immigration enforcement measure Assembly Bill 173, which will fall into legal limbo as well and cost taxpayers millions to legally defend, if approved.
Some of these states enacting immigration enforcement laws are facing major deficits and continue to create unwanted costs for taxpayers by passing useless and dead immigration bills, once they are legally challenged.

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