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News Analysis
While Alabama’s new immigration law signed last week has been trumped up both by Gov. Robert Bentley and media headlines as the strictest in a series of state-level immigration laws, the truth is that the new law is only slightly stricter. More accurately, the new law, set to go into effect on Sept. 1, is a bellwether of where states are heading if the Obama administration doesn’t pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
The story of Alabama’s immigration legislation, which will affect the estimated 120,000 undocumented (or if you prefer, illegal) immigrants in the Southern state, really begins in April 2010, when Arizona passed immigration legislation to deal with Mexican immigrants illegally crossing the border into Arizona.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said: “We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels. We cannot stand idly by as drop houses, kidnappings, and violence compromise our quality of life. We cannot delay while the destruction happening south of our international border creeps its way north.”
The immediate threat of violence from Mexican drug cartels and undocumented immigrants committing crimes in Arizona earned the law national support, with a majority saying they supported the law within Arizona.
Meanwhile, the actual content of the Arizona Law, SB1070, addresses immigration issues that are universally applicable across states, resonating with people who want the government to more actively deport undocumented immigrants.
Basic elements of the Arizona law include restricting anyone from impeding the enforcement of federal immigration laws, allowing law enforcement to check the immigration status of people suspected of other criminal activity, requiring employers to verify their employees are legally here, and making it illegal to transport an undocumented immigrant.
The Arizona law has largely been put on hold by a federal court while it proceeds to the Supreme Court. It is expected to go before the highest court in the land in the next one to two years.
With Arizona’s law down but not out, other states have been introducing their own Arizona-style legislation one after another. First came Utah in March, then Indiana in April, Georgia in May, and now Alabama last week.
Despite the hype, Alabama mostly followed in the legislative footsteps of Arizona and other states. The only original regulation is making it illegal for people to rent to undocumented immigrants. Also, where Indiana was barring any state financial aid for undocumented immigrants goings to college, Alabama is simply barring undocumented immigrants from enrolling in any public college. All of the laws are facing challenges in court both for their constitutionality and their alleged violation of civil rights.
The real story here is not the strictness of the new Alabama law, HB 56, but the trend itself.
While Arizona borders Mexico, Alabama is a long way from any kind of international border. The same is true for Utah, Indiana, and Georgia. North Carolina is also working on passing its own Arizona-style immigration law. Perhaps North Carolina residents are worried about the British crossing the Atlantic.
Jokes aside, the legislation is staying nearly the same from Arizona to Alabama but the overall narrative behind the legislation is changing.
HB 56 begins its statement of purposes by saying: “The State of Alabama finds that illegal immigration is causing economic hardship,” and goes on to say that “illegal immigration is encouraged when public agencies within this state provide public benefits without verifying immigration status.”
We do not care about drug cartels in Arizona; the new Alabama law seems to say. We want to make sure anyone who is here illegally doesn’t use our state benefits.
Another stipulation in the Alabama law is having elementary and secondary schools count the number of undocumented immigrants to determine how much money is spent on them. That’s not something they planned to do in Arizona. Thus, while Utah, Indiana, Georgia, and Alabama now have immigration laws that are being called Arizona-style, it may be more accurate to call the motive behind them Alabama-style.
evan.mantyk@epochtimes.com
