Weather
What's Next for Alabama's Immigration Law?Illegal immigration tops the priority list again for state lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session and you are guaranteed to see some changes to the law. It's been a topic of heated debate since last year's legislative session, spurring protest after protest. "It's been a nightmare," said CBS 8 Political Analyst, Steve Flowers. Which is why Flowers says immigration will be addressed again this legislative session. "City mayors and government officials have told their law enforcement people, 'don't stop some guy arbitrarily and ask him his nationality, because you are probably stopping some NASA executive in Hunstville, or some executive of Mercedes, or some medical doctor doing medical research at UAB'." Portions of the law have already been blocked or thrown out after being ruled unconstitutional. State Senator Bryan Taylor admits that the law will be tweaked in some places to make sure it is 100 percent in line with federal law. "We are not going to remove any provisions that have to do with penalties for hiring illegal immigrants or penalties for giving public benefits to illegal immigrants. Those are going to stay in the bill," said Taylor. He adds there is no chance they will repeal the law. State Representative Joe Hubbard says a change has to be made. "I think the immigration law as it is written currently, has had some unintended consequences specifically for economic development and job creation here in the state," said Hubbard. As parts of the illegal immigration law are repealed by the courts, state leaders are now back tracking to make it work. Is this a black eye for Alabama? Flowers says yes. "It just resurrects the image Alabama has as a racist state from our past, but this problem is internal," said Flowers. A study conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama claims that the immigration law will cost the state billions of dollars because of income lost by illegal immigrants who will have to leave the state. |
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled.
Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
Poll |
Add a comment
Most Viewed