Right Wing Xenophobia Goes Wild in Alabama
The new anti-immigration law just signed by Alabama’s Republican governor Robert Bentley explicitly violates the Bill of Rights’s provisions against unreasonable search and seizure, by requiring police to arrest anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally if they can’t produce documentation — when stopped for any reason: Alabama governor signs nation’s toughest immigration law.
(Reuters) - Republican Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday signed into law a crackdown on illegal immigration in Alabama that both supporters and critics consider the toughest in the nation.
Under the new measure, police must detain someone they suspect of being in the country illegally if the person cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason.
It also will be a crime to knowingly transport or harbor someone who is in the country illegally. The law imposes penalties on businesses that knowingly employ someone without legal resident status. A company’s business license could be suspended or revoked.
That’s right — in Alabama, you may now end up in jail if you’re not carrying your papers, whether or not you’ve done anything wrong.
(h/t: Mr. Hammer.)