Alabama Goes Arizona One Better

The state-sponsored assault on illegal immigrants continues, this time in Alabama, where Republican legislators have pushed through a sweeping bill that makes last year’s discriminatory Arizona law look unambitious and feeble.

When Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signs the bill into law, police officers will be allowed to inquire about the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, undocumented immigrants will be barred from public colleges, public schools will have to publish the number of legal and illegal immigrants enrolled in their programs along with costs associated with those students, and employers will be required to verify the legal status of all immigrant employees, among other provisions. –ARK

The New York Times:

Alabama’s bill goes beyond Arizona’s. It bars illegal immigrants from enrolling in any public college after high school. It obliges public schools to determine the immigration status of all students, requiring parents of foreign-born students to report the immigration status of their children.

… “This is a jobs-creation bill for Americans,” said Representative Micky Hammon, a Republican who was a chief sponsor of the bill. “We really want to prevent illegal immigrants from coming to Alabama and to prevent those who are here from putting down roots,” he said.

… The bill requires all Alabama employers to use a federal system, E-Verify, to confirm the legal status of all workers. The measure also makes it a state crime for an immigrant to fail to carry a document proving legal status, and makes it a crime for anyone to transport an illegal immigrant.

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