On September 28, a federal court in Alabama shut the door on equality, educational opportunities, and fundamental fairness. In denying an emergency stay request in Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, et al., v. Bentley, et al., which we at the National Immigration Law Center and a broad civil rights coalition filed challenging Alabama's draconian anti-immigrant law, the federal court instead opened the door to fear, hatred, discrimination, and an attack on the most vulnerable of all -- Alabama's children.
The court's decision is not entirely surprising given Alabama's deep-seated structural racism and the shameful history of denying Black Alabamians their civil and human rights. Federal courts should serve to protect the constitutional rights of all of us, especially when an emboldened, extremist legislature enacts laws that spew with hatred and aim to undermine the fundamental rights of a minority. Sadly, this is not the case: the intended consequences of Alabama's heinous new law were felt within hours of Judge Blackburn's decision.
Among the most ill-conceived provisions allowed to go into effect is the requirement that school administrators verify the citizenship status of students at the time of enrollment. This mean-spirited requirement undercuts the well-established constitutional right that all children -- regardless of immigration status -- have to attend the nation's public elementary and high schools. Although the new law should not impact students who are already enrolled this school year, we have already begun to see the chilling fallout. By Friday September 30, thousands of Hispanic Alabamian children did not show up to school for fear of being detained by immigration or having their parents detained.
In response to the humanitarian crisis being unleashed in Alabama, the legal team set up an emergency hotline. The calls are heartbreaking and enraging. One call we received was from the mother of a 4th grader in Montgomery, AL whose teacher immediately questioned the student about her immigration status. Upon finding out the student is a U.S. citizen, the teacher proceeded to ask the 4th grader about her parents' status. The teachers also asked other Latino students similar threatening questions.
As if this were not horrific enough, the water departments across the state have notified residents that they will begin requiring proof of status in order to obtain the most vital of all utility services. A man who was assaulted and robbed was afraid to go to the emergency room or call the police. A woman with a 2-week old baby was afraid to call 911 despite fearing she might be attacked.
One can only ask: what has happened to Alabama? What is happening to our nation?
The passage of Alabama's draconian HB 56 and the federal court's decision must be a call to action for all of us. Children's groups, educators, civil and human rights defenders must stand up against such oppressive laws that threaten the very fabric of our society. We cannot allow for Alabama to repeat the lessons of yesteryear without consequence. We must understand this as nothing less than an attack against children and all of us who believe in justice, equality, fairness, and freedom. Let's save our country's soul by organizing against such repression and for a healthier and just society.
We will continue to fight in the courtroom and defend the rights of all until we strike down these unconstitutional laws.
What will you do?
Paul Kleyman: From Jim Crow to Juan Crow -- a Boomer Reflects on Alabama's Civil Rights Legacy
Alabama Immigration Law Upheld - NYTimes.com
Alabama Immigration Law Causes Hispanics to Leave Schools ...
Is Alabama immigration law creating a 'humanitarian crisis ...
Justice Department Asks Appeals Court To Block Alabama's ...
Alabama Immigration Law Text | Judge blocks parts of Alabama's ...
Parts of Alabama immigration law to go forward – USATODAY.com
1] First paragraph is incorrect for 2 reasons
a) Alabama did not ask foreign nationals to enter the USA as illegal aliens
b) Alabama did not tell any children that they would be refused from attending elementary or grade school
The fact that the NILC representative stated that Alabama did, shows the lengths that they will go to obfuscate and tell a falsehood.
The illegal alien parents decided to enter the USA illegally with their family, and the same illegal alien parents decided to pull their kids from school, The USA did not do that, Alabama did not do that, the illegal alien parents did that.
2] 2nd paragraph - The author should disclose if anyone in her family tree did anything along the lines of Hernan Cortes? (Her last name traces to Spain http://www.miparentela.com/mapas/detalles/hincapie.html) This NILC modern-day Hernan Cortes action regarding who the NILC is representing in the USA, is wrong today, and was wrong in the 1521, and was wrong when the descendants of Cortes did the same to the Pueblo Native Americans in the late 1600s in the land we call New Mexico today.
If anyone in your family tree did Hernan Cortes actions, you should be forced to disclose that, since you are attempting to focus on Alabama from 2 to 3 generations ago, when a generation is usually defined as about 20 years.
3] 3rd paragraph - Only 6.7% of Hispanic students were absent from school according to other HP articles that cited the actual numbers. Nobody wants to disclose how many would of normally been absent because of migrant families returning abroad because the growing season was over.
The Alabama law did not deny any child an education, it merely attempts a statistical to be able to have an empirical basis to approach the Feds in the future about the Feds misfeasance or nonfeasance.
4] Illegal aliens are not required to stay in the USA, they can leave any time the same way they entered the USA. Foreign national illegal aliens have no Constitutional right to be admitted entrance to the U.S.
Then they have the nerve to complain about when we enact laws to protect ourselves.
11.2 million illegals in the USA ~ illegally
Become 11.2 million Naturalized U.S. Citizens
Why are "they" refusing?
However in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriquez, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 held that education is not a "fundamental right" under the U.S. Constitution.
September 27, 2011
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/september-27-2011/bi-partisan-immigration-enforcement-bill-offered-massachusetts.html
BTW, Jim Crow laws were directed towards US citizens. These people are not US citizens, they are citizens of another country who snuck into our country and are living here illegally.
I have noticed that ALL of the posters who write in favor of illegals being here are all funded by corporate think tanks and lobbyists. I can tell you that grass roots liberal Democrats like myself do NOT share their perspective. I am FAR more concerned about the declining wages of American workers and their unemployment than the concerns of illegals who have spit on our laws and are simply using various dodges to game the system. The FACT of the DREAM Act was that it was an amnesty for all those who could pass for under 35. There is NO valid documentation required so that any person with a bogus name and papers would qualify.
Samuel Gompers, Founder and President of the American Federation of Labor wrote in a 1924 letter to Congress: "Every effort to enact immigration legislation must expect to meet a number of hostile forces and, in particular, two hostile forces of considerable strength. One of these is composed of corporation employers who desire to employ physical strength (broad backs) at the lowest possible wage and who prefer a rapidly revolving labor supply at low wages to a regular supply of American wage earners at fair wages. The other is composed of racial groups in the United States who oppose all restrictive legislation because they want the doors left open for an influx of their countrymen regardless of the menace to the people of their adopted country." Today we can add to that list the Community Organizer, who owes a living to the financial contributions given by people who want their way not matter what the law says.
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
- John F. Kennedy
Is it because when it comes to American Citizens, authors of stories like this could care less? All that matters to them is protecting those they know. Are the only people they know people who break the law? What an example that sets.
The Illegal Immigration situation is not a win-lose situation. It is a lose-lose situation. Deport Illegal Immigrants and they lose. Let them stay and American Workers lose. So who should lose? The people who break the law? Or should our friends, neighbors, and family who abide by the law lose?
Whether you are a White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian American it makes no difference. Everyone who works in the professions that most frequently hire Illegal Immigrants is hurting. U.S. Department of Labor Statistics on unemployment by profession proves it.
No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor.
Theodore Roosevelt
NO. Alabama is very smart to have acted before the forces of extortion grew strong enough to dictate terms to them. Way to go Alabama!
According the stats there are as many illegal Hispanics as there are legal ones. Nationally more than 80% of Illegals are Hispanic. It is therefore hardly a surprise that ANY initiative to apply our immigration laws will come up with a majority of Hispanics. This is not racism but an inescapable and undeniable fact. nationally 1 in 15 inhabitants of the US is illegal where 1 in 5 Hispanics are illegal. Perhaps the better question is why Hispanics feel that the laws of the US do not somehow apply to them?