Alabama Passes Tough Law Against Illegal Aliens

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Alabama Passes Tough Law Against Illegal Aliens
If you thought nobody could be as tough on illegal aliens as Arizona, then you should pay attention to what is happening in Alabama. If the anti-illegal alien legislation that Gov. Robert Bentley signed into law in June is any indication, then Alabama may very well be the state that is toughest on those crossing our border unlawfully.

Indeed, the new law (set to take effect Sept. 1) has stringent provisions. In addition to enacting common-sense requirements such as proof of citizenship for voters and proof of legal residency for workers, the law also forbids landlords to rent to illegal aliens, anyone to harbor illegal aliens, and any Alabama local jurisdiction to refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement (refusals that create so-called “sanctuary” cities for illegal aliens). It requires police to check the immigration status of suspected illegal aliens and detain them. Notably, it also requires school districts to record the immigration status of students, so that the state can accurately determine the cost of public education of illegal alien students.

In short, the law will make life very unpleasant for illegal aliens in Alabama—as it should be in every state.

As someone who went to a great deal of trouble to legally immigrate to America, I salute Alabama for taking a no-nonsense stand against illegal immigration—the national scourge that has debased the dignity of immigration. I believe that an illegal alien is essentially a burglar—not an invited guest, but an invader. As such, an illegal alien should be treated with the contempt that he or she deserves. Condoning an illegal alien is a slap in the face of every immigrant who respected America enough to obey its laws.

Needless to say, the vast majority of illegal aliens are Hispanic. So, the ethnic Hispanic lobbies and their liberal allies lost no time in crying wolf over the Alabama law. As they did in Arizona, they raised the same hackneyed specter of how the Alabama law will lead to racial profiling—that anybody who looks Hispanic or has a Hispanic-sounding name will be presumed to be an illegal alien. Expert race hustlers that these lobbies are, they quickly exploited Alabama’s unfortunate history as a stronghold of Jim Crow laws, and managed to draw an imaginary parallel between what yesterday’s Southern blacks endured and what today’s Hispanic immigrants might endure.

Make no mistake, such asseverations of impending injustice are intended to distract attention from the unlawful presence of illegal aliens. If these ethnic lobbies had their way, America would become a Third World country—where ethnic and tribal loyalties, corruption, and lawlessness are the rule.

As a naturalized American, and having driven in at least 30 states (including Alabama ), I know better than to believe the benighted scenarios predicted by the race hustlers. Simply put, I know this—if you are in the country legally, then you have no reason to worry about a law such as Alabama’s. The aforementioned analogy cements my point—if you are not a burglar, then you have no reason to worry about tough burglary laws.

Contrary to the race-pandering insinuations of the liberal media, Alabama’s law will not turn every cop into the judge, jury and jailer of anyone who lacks a Southern accent. In fact, the law is very accommodating to legal immigrants. For instance, here is a direct quotation from the law:

"A person shall be regarded as an alien unlawfully present in the United States only if the person's unlawful immigration status has been verified by the federal government pursuant to 8 USC § 1373(c). No officer of this state or any political subdivision of this state shall attempt to independently make a final determination of an alien's immigration status. [Italics added.] An alien possessing self-identification in any of the following forms is entitled to the presumption that he or she is an alien lawfully present in the United States:

a. A valid, unexpired Alabama driver's license.

b. A valid, unexpired Alabama nondriver identification card.

c. A valid tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
bearing a photograph or other biometric identifier.

d. Any valid United States federal or state government-issued identification document bearing a photograph or other biometric identifier, if issued by an entity that requires proof of lawful presence in the United States before issuance.

e. A foreign passport with an unexpired United States visa and a corresponding stamp or notation by the United States
Department of Homeland Security indicating the bearer's admission to the United States."

But such accommodations are not enough to satisfy many anti-American liberals masquerading as public officials of the Obama administration. The Justice Department is suing Alabama to stop the state from enforcing this new law. Ostensibly, the reason is that only the federal government can make immigration laws.

Yet this is the same Justice Department that looked the other way while another state, Utah, passed a law that would create its own work permits for illegal aliens. You could not find a worse instance of governmental hypocrisy. Who is the worse offender of the federal system—a state that reinforces federal laws (as Alabama does), or a state that creates special permits for illegal aliens in spite of federal laws (as Utah does)?

Such hypocrisy exemplifies the utter incompetence of the federal government in controlling illegal immigration. Is it any wonder that states have stepped in where the feds have stepped out?

Ideally, individual states should not have to deal with illegal aliens. But until we have a federal government with the cojones to send illegal aliens packing, we should be thankful for states such as Alabama and Arizona that send the right message.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45652