Judge again blocks parts of tough Alabama immigration law

[cal04]

Source: CNN

A federal judge has again temporarily blocked enforcement of key parts of a tough immigration law in Alabama.

The ruling Wednesday is a partial victory for both sides. The Justice Department had brought suit against state officials. Alabama was given the power to enforce other controversial sections of the law.

(snip)
"There is a substantial likelihood that the United States will succeed on the merits of its claim that (parts of the law) are preempted by federal law," Blackburn wrote. "The court further finds that the United States will suffer irreparable harm if these sections of H.B. 56 are not enjoined" from taking effect.

(snip)
Blackburn blocked the following provisions from being enforced:

(more at link)



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/justice/alabama-immigration-law/

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Judge lets key parts of Ala. immigration law stand
http://news.yahoo.com/judge-lets-key-parts-ala-immigration-law-stand-180225029.html
(snip)
In a statement on behalf of 150 United Methodist pastors who signed a letter opposing the law, Revs. Matt Lacey and R.G. Lyons said church leaders were "pleased to see some of the harsh and far-reaching elements of the law have been struck down."

"We feel that many of these elements, written by members of the State House and Senate who campaign on Christianity, are not representative of the message of Christ who welcomed the stranger despite country of origin or status," they said.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Alabama V. Uncle Sam

Déjà vu!

[cal04]

2. Judge Rejects DOJ’s Challenge To Alabama’s War On Immigrant Schoolchildren

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/09/28/331210/judge-rejects-dojs-challenge-to-alabamas-war-on-immigrant-schoolchildren/

Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn, a George H.W. Bush appointee, just issued an opinion striking down parts of Alabama’s newly-enacted anti-immigrant law. Although the opinion blocks several of the law’s provisions, including the provision making it a crime for undocumented immigrants to work, the opinion leaves untouched a provision of Alabama law requiring public schools to systematically determine the immigration status of public school students and to report the number of undocumented students in their district to the state.

Very few undocumented families will be willing to send their children to public school if the school is collecting data on whether or not they should be deported. Accordingly, today’s decision is a victory for Alabama’s efforts to intimidate undocumented families from sending their children to school, and will almost certainly encourage state lawmakers who share Alabama’s hostility towards immigrants to enact copycat laws.

It’s not at all clear, however, that this decision will be upheld on appeal. Judge Blackburn’s opinion relies on irrelevant distinctions, misrepresents binding Supreme Court precedent, and even ignores the plain language of the Alabama law. The meat of the law being challenged in this lawsuit provides that:

Every public elementary and secondary school in this state, at the time of enrollment in kindergarten or any grade in such school, shall determine whether the student enrolling in public school was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States or is the child of an alien not lawfully present in the United States and qualifies for assignment to an English as Second Language class or other remedial program.

[below the beltway]

3. Honestly, I don't recognize this country.

Even that idiot Perry can see the value of the Dream Act.

[alp227]

4. but local law enforcement may still check immigration status of the arrested

"The judge upheld a section that requires state and local law enforcement officials to try to verify a person’s immigration status during routine traffic stops or arrests, if “a reasonable suspicion” exists that the person is in the country illegally. And she ruled that a section that criminalized the “willful failure” of a person in the country illegally to carry federal immigration papers did not pre-empt federal law." (NY Times, "Alabama Wins in Ruling on Its Immigration Law")

(The judge was the George H.W. Bush-nominated Sharon Blackburn.)

Also: "Among the other sections Judge Blackburn upheld: one that nullifies any contracts entered into by an illegal immigrant; another that forbids any transaction between an illegal immigrant and any division of the state, a proscription that has already led to the denial of a Montgomery man’s application for water and sewage service; and, most controversially, a section that requires elementary and secondary schools to determine the immigration status of incoming students." (But I don't know if the schools will get to exclude US citizen children whose parents aren't legally here.)