Alabama lawmakers just can’t help themselves. When the legislature convened this year, its members had an opportunity to repair the damage the state’s harsh anti-immigrant law had inflicted across Alabama.Promises were made. Changes were supposedly in the works.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants a new rule that will dramatically increase processing line speeds at poultry plants – a rule that will only ruin the lives of more plant workers in an industry where hundreds of thousands of workers already suffer painful, debilitating injuries.
"Today is an incredibly dark day for Alabama. Despite the fact that our state has suffered incredibly over the past year as a result of HB56, the Alabama legislature and Governor Bentley have chosen to double down by passing and signing into law an even more extreme measure. While other states have abandoned similar measures and even recalled the sponsors of such measures, Alabama has once again made a name for itself as the worst of the worst."
Rather than take steps to correct the humanitarian crisis created by Alabama’s anti-immigrant law, the state legislature appears poised to pass another law as ill conceived as its predecessor.
This week, the state that created the blueprint for vicious anti-immigrant laws is going to court. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will decide the constitutionality of Arizona's anti-immigrant law, SB 1070. The court's decision is far greater than a single state's issue.
Yesterday, Alabama legislative leaders in the House proved they have learned nothing from their mistakes and that they don’t care at all about the pain and suffering of all Alabamians. They have rushed through a so-called reform bill that will do nothing to alleviate the economic and humanitarian crisis that is gripping our state because of HB 56 – Alabama’s draconian anti-immigrant law. This law harms the economy, runs counter to our fundamental principles of faith and returns Alabama to its dark past of racial hatred and division.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is part of a coalition of civil rights groups challenging misguided state laws in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Frustration with Congress’ failure to reform the nation’s immigration policy is not sufficient reason for states to create a patchwork of policies that throw lives into disarray and sow fear, bigotry and confusion in communities.
Xenophobia and a desire to find a scapegoat for these hard economic times will spur more anti-immigrant legislation. And there’s no shortage of lawmakers unwilling to hear other viewpoints. But there are still people unwilling to allow their state to be governed by fear.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and more than 100 of the nation’s civil rights and faith groups joined in filing a brief with the Supreme Court this week to oppose Arizona’s anti-immigrant law. Arizona’s controversial S.B. 1070 is scheduled to come up for Supreme Court review in April.
Marchers from across the country came to Montgomery, Ala., recently to rally at the state Capitol. It was the culmination of a march that began in Selma days earlier, retracing the steps of the historic 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.
