The Southern Poverty Law Center and the coalition of civil rights groups challenging Alabama’s extreme anti-immigrant law today filed a notice of appeal and an emergency request asking the U.S. district court to temporarily block several provisions not previously enjoined by the court’s orders of September 28, while the decision is appealed.
A federal court today blocked significant elements of Alabama’s new anti-immigrant law – the nation’s most extreme – but also left large parts in place, undermining the most fundamental American values of fairness and equality and devastating thousands across the state, including citizens, lawful immigrants and immigrants without lawful status alike.
The SPLC praised officials at an Alabama high school for restoring the right of a student to wear a T-shirt expressing acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced today that attorney Maria Morris has joined the civil rights organization as managing attorney of its Alabama office.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and a coalition of other civil rights groups asked a federal judge to block Alabama’s anti-immigrant law from taking effect Sept. 1.
Alabama passed an extreme anti-immigrant law in June 2011. The law threatened to chill children’s access to public schools by requiring school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents; authorized police to demand “papers” demonstrating citizenship or immigration status during traffic stops; and criminalized Alabamians for everyday interactions with undocumented individuals. The SPLC led a coalition of civil rights groups in filing a federal class action lawsuit that resulted in an agreement that effectively gutted the law.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is leading a coalition of civil rights groups in filing a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s extreme anti-immigrant law, passed last month and inspired by Arizona’s notorious SB 1070.
Alabama’s new anti-immigrant law, signed last week by Gov. Robert Bentley, will set back years of civil rights progress in the state and have devastating economic consequences.
Yesterday, the Alabama Legislature fell into the same costly trap as neighboring Georgia by following the ill-fated footsteps of Arizona and passing harsh anti-immigrant legislation. The bill, H.B. 56, will not only set back years of progress on civil rights in the state but will also add considerably to Alabama's existing budget crisis.
