The toughest anti-illegal immigration law in the country, the Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, was just upheld by federal courts handing a substantial defeat to Obama who challenged the law. The law states: It is a misdemeanor for legal immigrants to not carry immigration papers at all times. Law enforcement must determine immigration status of anyone who is reasonably suspected of being an immigrant at all traffic stops. Illegal aliens are prohibited from receiving any public benefits including attending public universities. Public elementary, middle, and high schools must determine immigration status of all students and report (but not expel) those who are illegal aliens to officials. Prohibits anyone from hiring an illegal alien for any job and makes it a discriminatory action to deny employment to or layoff a US citizen where illegal aliens are also employed. Requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote. This federal ruling also gives the green light for other states to write similar laws or reinstate those that were previously suspended such as in Arizona, Utah, Indiana, and Georgia. I think this is a positive step in the right direction for immigration law in America and a great victory for states' rights. What say you?
Are you sure this bit is right? I don't recall this being part of the law. If so, I'm hoping it refers to immigrants here on work visas. But yes, overall I'm very happy to see Alabama and other states taking control of situations within their own borders. People who oppose what these certain states are doing must remember that we'd not have this problem if the Federal government would've handled "it's business". We'd not have this problem if border states were granted power to handle immigration from the beginning.
Yes, the bit about legal immigrants (work visa, exchange student, green card, etc) carrying identification is correct. However, it is simply mirroring federal law which already requires all legal immigrants to carry identification. Basically when caught without papers, Alabama will charge you with a misdemeanor if the federal government fails to. See US Code Section 1304 (e): http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/8/12/II/VII/1304 (scroll down to section e) I actually had no idea it was already a federal misdemeanor for legal immigrants to fail to carry papers. Too bad the US Government doesn't enforce their own laws.
The fact that the feds fail so miserably to enforce these laws is why it's such a good thing for the states to have the laws too so the enforcement finally can get done after years of negligence. Once things gget straightened out a bit, the next issue should be to go after the feds and force them to do their jobs. Fire those legislators who vote against these enforcement tools. Vote against E-Verify ? You're fired.
