News / Law
Alabama lawmakers approve changes to state immigration law
Alabama’s House of Representatives passed a new version of the state’s controversial immigration law following incidents where foreign workers were detained because they weren’t carrying appropriate identification.
The changes made to the law include no longer requiring schools to report the immigration status of students and allowing churches more flexibility to churches who minister to and offer aid to illegal immigrants.
Civil rights advocates and immigration attorneys, however, criticized the lawmakers for not making changes to the parts of the bill that put immigrants at risk for racial profiling. The provision that would allow police to stop and detain a person suspected of being undocumented remains in place.
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Georgia blocked Alabama from enacting provisions of their law.
Other states have passed similarly tough immigration laws, including Georgia, Arizona, Utah, and Indiana, citing that the Obama Administration has failed to act on illegal immigration, despite the high levels of deportations carried out since the President took office. But many of these laws are being held up in federal court as their constitutionality is challenged.
As states continue to take on illegal immigration by passing their own laws it is important that undocumented individuals contact an immigration lawyer to help gain legal residency. All illegal residents face the prospect of deportation unless they have the assistance if a qualified immigration attorney to obtain the necessary documents.
