Alabama's new immigration law

[Aries]

I say, good for Alabama!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110610/ts_yblog_thelookout/alabama-immigration-law-pressures-schools-to-check-immigration-status

Alabama immigration law pressures schools to check immigration status
By Liz Goodwin

Alabama's new immigration law is drawing comparisons to SB1070, the anti-illegal immigration crackdown signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer last year before a judge quickly blocked it from going into effect.
But Alabama's new law is actually much broader and much tougher than SB 1070--most notably for a provision that asks school administrators to check the immigration status of their students.
Supporters say the law will help the state determine how much public money goes to educating undocumented children.
"That is where one of our largest costs come from," Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale told The Montgomery Advertiser. "It's part of the cost factor."
The law doesn't say schools should turn away students who can't provide documentation--that would be in blatant violation of the 1982 Supreme Court ruling Plyler v. Doe, which struck down a Texas law that forbade public money going to the education of illegal immigrants. In the Plyler case, the court ruled that fashioning laws to punish children violated the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
The court also argued that denying children education would create a permanent "subclass of illiterates" in America, adding to welfare costs and crime. (The law's creators say they've crafted the schools provision with the strictures of Plyler v. Doe in mind, and they think it will pass constitutional muster. Justice Department lawyers recently warned school districts in a letter that any laws that may "discourage" children from enrolling violates Plyler, in their opinion.)
But questions of constitutionality aside, the legislation will likely create a chilling effect on immigrant school enrollment, the law's opponents contend. Telling parents they must provide proof of citizenship of their children within 30 days next September may simply keep worried illegal immigrants from enrolling their kids, critics say.
An attendance coordinator at Elmore County Public Schools told The Montgomery Advertiser that asking the question is "tacitly trying to deny access to school." Meanwhile, the executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards Sally Howell told the paper administrators don't want to be caught in the "crosshairs" when the court battles begin, and would rather schools be left out of the state's immigration push.
"This really isn't the school board's business," Huntsville Board of Education President Topper Birney told WHNT. "We should be teaching kids and not enforcing the law. That is someone else's business."
The Mobile County School Board President Ken Megginson told Fox10 the schools would comply, but that "we are not in the law enforcement business."
Some officials also raised concerns that the verification process would cost cash-strapped schools money.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and civil rights organizations announced they will sue to block the law from going into effect in September. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler wouldn't comment on whether the department would also file suit.
The National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigration reform group, called the law "cruel," and said it goes far beyond Arizona's law in also making it criminal to rent housing to illegal immigrants.
"It blocks the schoolhouse doors to children, will result in people being turned away when they try to rent a home, and places burdens on people of color at the voting booth," said Cecilia Wang of the ACLU in a statement. "By signing this bill into law, Gov. Bentley has codified official discrimination in the State of Alabama."
Alabama GOP Gov. Robert Bentley campaigned on the promise that he would help pass the toughest illegal immigration law in the country, and says the law will keep illegal immigrants from taking jobs from people authorized to be in the country. But it seems unlikely that many of the law's toughest provisions will ever go into effect.
Muzaffar Chishti, who directs the Migration Policy Institute at NYU Law School, says he thinks that the parts of the Alabama law that mirror SB 1070 by asking local law enforcement to check immigration status of suspects will be likewise be blocked by a judge. Similar laws that deal with renting to illegal immigrants have been struck down, most recently by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, so that provision may be blocked as well. The schools provision may also bite the dust.
"In its operation, it violates Plyler," Chishti says.

 

[Maulds]

It will be over-turned and those who pushed it will be made out to be racists. I don't blame them for trying to do something about it.

 

[HK]

How awful, that anyone might suggest taxes earned and paid by legal citizens shouldn't be used to educate the children of people who've not even gone through the proper channels to enter the country.

 

[All Else Failed]

I'm for it.

 

[Dana]

How awful, that anyone might suggest taxes earned and paid by legal citizens shouldn't be used to educate the children of people who've not even gone through the proper channels to enter the country.

huh? what? sarcasm?

 

[brieze]

I feel bad but I'm for it. If shit doesn't change, we're ALL going under.

 

[Tim]

How awful, that anyone might suggest taxes earned and paid by legal citizens shouldn't be used to educate the children of people who've not even gone through the proper channels to enter the country.

:clap

 

[Tangerine]

There ARE no so called "proper channels" for someone to legally immigrate to the US and perform general, unskilled labor jobs like most of those here from south of the border do. The US does not offer any such type of VISA to enter this country legally.

 

[Peter Parka]

I say it's easy to take the moral high ground when you were born on the right side of the fence.

 

[Tim]

I also think the school districts should identify which children come from the families of home owners and which ones are renters.
It's the home owners that pay school taxes, so we should know who's pulling their weight or not. Right?

 

[HK]

I also think the school districts should identify which children come from the families of home owners and which ones are renters.
It's the home owners that pay school taxes, so we should know who's pulling their weight or not. Right?

Is that how it works for you guys? I'm a renter but in the UK you pay council tax separately to your rent or mortgage, and that covers things like schools, emergency services etc etc. So regardless of your housing status, you pay the same as anyone else.

 

[All Else Failed]

Deportation when found.

 

[Dana]

I also think the school districts should identify which children come from the families of home owners and which ones are renters.
It's the home owners that pay school taxes, so we should know who's pulling their weight or not. Right?

That's fucking stupid. So just because someone chooses to rent instead of own they should be ousted and looked down upon?

 

[Tangerine]

Deportation when found.

At whose expense?

 

[All Else Failed]

Clearly the illegal's


;]

 

[Tangerine]

Here's a suggestion:

If you are a legislator, and you vote "YEA" to pass a law that immediately incurs millions and millions of tax dollars in legal fees to defend in court, only to have said law ruled unconstitutional, you should then be held personally liable for repayment to the State for every penny of the legal expenses - and bankruptcy should not be allowed to discharge the debt.

Perhaps then we might see and end to laws being passed who ONLY purpose is to keep hundreds of lawyers getting wealthy on taxpayer funds. And that is the ONLY purpose of this legislation.

 

[NuckingFuts]

I am all for laws like this. But then again I live like 45 mins from the border to Mexico.

 

[All Else Failed]

Here's a suggestion:

If you are a legislator, and you vote "YEA" to pass a law that immediately incurs millions and millions of tax dollars in legal fees to defend in court, only to have said law ruled unconstitutional, you should then be held personally liable for repayment to the State for every penny of the legal expenses - and bankruptcy should not be allowed to discharge the debt.

Perhaps then we might see and end to laws being passed who ONLY purpose is to keep hundreds of lawyers getting wealthy on taxpayer funds. And that is the ONLY purpose of this legislation.

provide evidence for this please

 

[BadBoy]

How much money is wasted by school districts across the country to provide second language training to teachers? How about to health care of illegal citizens? I'm all for immigrating to the greatest nation on the planet, but do it the right way.

We were once the wealthiest country in the world, but slowly and sadly losing traction. Why? Because everyone expects us to share the wealth. We cannot afford to do this. Spend the money on our own citizen's first and foremost, there isn't even enough of that "real" money around. Hell, we are robbing social security and borrowing from China just to pay the interest on our debts.

I didn't think Trump would make a good leader of anything, but he had some good points. Let's start sending bills to these countries that EXPECT us to police their borders, cough (Europe, Canada, and everyone else). We'd be rich too if we didn't have to worry about protecting half of the world.

 

[rback33]

The whole "renters vs homeowners" concept is bogus. Property tax is paid on the house. One can assume that a portion of the rent cost is used to pay the property tax on the rental house. The money still goes from the person living there to the school coffers, but it passes through more hands is all.